Sacramento County Grand Jury
• 2002-2003
• Agency Response
Sacramento County Grand Jury Report dated June 27, 2003*
⚠️ Aviso de traducción: Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8, F9, F10, F11, F12, F13, F14, F15, F16, F17, F18, F19, F20, F21
Findings and Recommendations 3 findings
F1
Page 1
District directors on the whole do not have financial or accounting backgrounds. They rely on their audit report to ensure that their district's operation is fiscally sound. DPMWD concurs. The DPMWD Board of Directors has varying degrees of financial or accounting backgrounds. They rely on the annual audit report along with the monthly report and periodic reviews during the fiscal year.
Related Recommendations (4)
R1a
Page 1
The district should provide to auditors all district policies and procedures before an audit is performed. Auditors should verify that all disbursements made during the year comply with the district's procedures. The audit should include a random sampling of travel expense reports, including credit card usage. DPMWD concurs. It has been the practice of the District to provide the auditor with policies and procedures and any changes that may have occurred during the audit cycle. An independent auditor in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States conducts the District audits. The independent auditor selects a sampling of all District expenses to review. DPMWD does not have District credit cards and all travel expenses are reviewed at the following regular Board Meeting along with the Director's event report.
R1b
Page 2
The Sacramento County Director of Finance should schedule regular, selective reviews of District audit reports for completeness and financial impact on ratepayers, and report any anomalies to the respective water district board of directors. DPMWD has no objection to an additional level of review. However, who will fund this additional review and at what cost?
R1c
Page 2
The California State Government Code Section 2609 should be amended to eliminate Section 2609(f) providing for audits to be performed less frequently than once a year. The code should require all districts to perform annual audits. DPMWD concurs. DPMWD, since its inception, has conducted annual audits.
R1d
Page 2
The California State Legislature should enact a statute requiring the State Controller to independently verify accuracy and completeness of district audits. DPMWD has no objection to an additional level of review. As with Recommendation #1b, we question who will fund this additional review and at what cost?
F2
Page 3
The Grand Jury finds that an electorate, kept unaware by a district that fails to "give light" to its actions, cannot properly evaluate the performance of district personnel. These voters elect boards to oversee the operation of the district. The board in turn hires a general manager to manage the district. It is the close relationship between the board and the general manager that has potential for misuse of district funds. We find that the use of district credit cards may enable the misuse of district funds; however, it is the culture within the district that permits the abuse. District managers and board members should be aware of what is and what is not proper. Golf at district expense is not proper. Expensive restaurant meals charged to the district is not proper. Increasing the retirement benefits to a level primarily given to public safety personnel to benefit a retiring general manager is not proper. DPMWD concurs. DPMWD has policies and practices in place to prevent the potential for the misuse of funds. For example, the District does not issue credit cards, has a travel policy limiting meal allowances and provides for public review of all expenditures at the regular monthly board meeting. DPMWD retirement benefits are at a level suitable for the area and the industry.
Related Recommendations (3)
R2
Page 2
Auditors should confirm water district's compliance with IRS rules, that all income is being reported, that boards actively oversee payments to management, and that all financial records are maintained for at least five years. DPMWD concurs.
R2a
Page 3
These practices should stop immediately. DPMWD concurs.
R2b
Page 4
Expenses submitted for reimbursement or charges on district credit cards that exceed California State per diem allowances or that do not fall within permitted district expense policies should be disallowed, published on the district's Web site and discussed at next board meeting. DPMWD concurs that excess claims should be disallowed. The District has no credit cards and all reimbursements are reviewed by the board at the regular board meeting as stated in response to Recommendation # 4. DPMWD does not have a Web site at this time.
F22
Page 3
The Grand Jury finds that an electorate, kept unaware by a district that fails to "give light" to its actions, cannot properly eValuate the performance of district personnel. These voters elect boards to oversee the operation of the district. The board in turn hires a general manager to manage the district. It is the close relationship between the board and the general manager that has potential for misuse of district funds. We find that the use of district credit cards may enable the misuse of district funds; however, it is the culture within the district that permits the abuse. District managers and board members should be aware of what is and what is not proper. Golf at district expense is not proper. Expensive restaurant meals charged to the district is not proper. Increasing the retirement benefits to a level primarily given to public safety personnel to benefit a retiring general manager is not proper. DPMWD concurs. DPMWD has policies and practices in place to prevent the potential Jor the misuse of funds. For example, the District does not issue credit cards, has a travel policy limiting meal allowances and provides for public review of all expenditures at the regular monthly board meeting. DPMW®D retirement benefits are at a level suitable for the area and the industry.
No recommendations for this finding
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.