GREENFIELDS IRRIGATION DISTRICTLocal Government

WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow) ALN: 15.507, Matching Condition: The District tracks matching expenditures through its accounting system and reports those amounts in its financial and performance reports. During the audit period, federal expenditures exceeded the required recipient cost share. Criteria: The agreement requires that the federal share of allowable costs not be expended in advance of the recipient's non-federal share. Federal and non-federal expenditures are expected to occur concurrently based on the approved cost-sharing percentages. Context: The District’s April 2024 financial report, covering the period from November 27, 2023, through March 31, 2024, reported total expenditures of $732,948, of which 97% represented federal funds and 3% represented recipient funds. The October 2024 report, covering April 1, 2024, through September 30, 2024, reported total expenditures of $1,544,715, of which 93% represented federal funds and 7% represented recipient funds. These reports indicate that federal funds were expended in advance of the required recipient cost share. Effect: The District did not comply with the grant agreement's cost-sharing requirements. Questioned Costs: No questioned costs were identified. Cause: District management was aware of the imbalance and indicated that future recipient expenditures would reduce the disparity by increasing the amount of allowable matching costs reported. Auditor’s Recommendation: We recommend that District management continue its efforts to comply with the grant agreement's cost-sharing requirements by ensuring that federal and non-federal costs are reported concurrently in accordance with the approved cost-sharing requirements. District’s Response: The District needed to order project materials in advance and make progress payments before construction began. Because work had not yet started, recipient expenditures temporarily exceeded the proportional cost share. As the project progresses and additional eligible costs are incurred, the federal and recipient shares will align with the required cost-share requirements.

WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow) Assistance Listing Number 15.507, Matching Condition: The District used a spreadsheet to track matched costs for the water efficiency project. The District Charge-Out Slips were used to document hours worked and equipment used, with the hourly rates and totals supporting the in-kind match. The District could not find the Charge-Out Slips supporting $6,225.31 in matched amounts. Criteria: The grant award for the water efficiency project showed the award total of $75,000 of federal funding and non-federal (District) share as $87,295. Documentation should be retained to support the matched amount. Context: The District met the match requirement, but could not find support for $6,255.31. Effect: There is unsupported amounts for the match reported on the federal financial reports. Cause: There was turnover in the staff position responsible for tracking this information. The Charge-Out Slips were misplaced. Audit Recommendation: We recommend the District retain documentation supporting match amounts. District’s Response: The in-kind, recipient match requirement for this grant was comprised predominantly of recipient labor and equipment usage. Poor record keeping by a past employee resulted in inadequate, in-house documentation to support the in-kind services being claimed as a match. Going forward, weekly record keeping of the in-kind labor and recipient’s equipment usage will result in more accurate documentation. As mentioned, the dollar-for-dollar match requirement was sufficiently met and the undocumented $6,255.31 was for in-kind services above the grant match requirement threshold.

WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow) Assistance Listing Number 15.507, Cash Management Condition: The District overdrew on the water efficiency project grant. Criteria: The District used the reimbursement payment method for drawing federal funds, by incurring costs and requesting reimbursement for costs incurred for the project. Project costs must be paid with non-federal entity funds before submitting a payment request. Context: The District did not have expenditures supporting $2,387.08 in federal funds received. Once this error was found, management contacted BOR and received guidance on how to correct the error. Effect: The District received too much in federal funding for the water efficiency project. Cause: This was an error and lack of oversight. Audit Recommendation: We recommend the District review all payment requests for accuracy and retain all documentation for expenditures. District’s Response: As with the previous audit finding, poor record keeping by the same previous employee resulted in an overdraw of $2,387.08 that was not adequately substantiated by matching receipts. The District is currently working with the Reclamation grant program manager to return these overdrawn funds. On future grants, reimbursement draws will be strictly limited to existing and actual corresponding receipts and invoices.

WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow) Assistance Listing Number 15.507, Reporting Condition: The District completed all the required federal financial reports during the year. However, one report submitted the amount reported as district share of expenditures was overstated. Criteria: The grant award for the Arnold Coulee project required federal financial reports be submitted on a semi-annual basis. Federal financial reports must be submitted on the SF-425 report. Context: The District included one invoice twice, therefore overstating the amount reported as the District share by $217,809. Once this error was found, management contacted BOR and received guidance on how to correct the error. Effect: The report submitted for the period end date of March 31, 2023, showed an overstatement of $217,809 for the District’s share of expenditures. Questioned Costs: There are no questioned costs. Cause: This was an error. Audit Recommendation: We recommend the District review the reports for accuracy prior to submission. District’s Response: The redundant expenditure reported was part of the recipient’s in-kind match requirement. Without this duplicate claimed expenditure, the District's in-kind match is still sufficient to satisfy the grant requirement. This error will be corrected in the next Grant Performance Report due on March 31st, 2024. More attention to detail is the only appropriate recommendation going forward.