The Rundown with Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit
Legislative Post Audit
30 episodes
1 week ago
We estimate the 3 counties we reviewed spent $28.8 million providing a selection of 3 services in fiscal year 2024, which was partially offset by $9.7 million in state, federal, and user fee funding. State law requires counties to provide a variety of core services, such as election administration, law enforcement, and motor vehicle registration. Counties are primarily funded by local tax revenue, and they generally use this revenue to cover the costs of providing the services state law requi...
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We estimate the 3 counties we reviewed spent $28.8 million providing a selection of 3 services in fiscal year 2024, which was partially offset by $9.7 million in state, federal, and user fee funding. State law requires counties to provide a variety of core services, such as election administration, law enforcement, and motor vehicle registration. Counties are primarily funded by local tax revenue, and they generally use this revenue to cover the costs of providing the services state law requi...
We estimate the 3 counties we reviewed spent $28.8 million providing a selection of 3 services in fiscal year 2024, which was partially offset by $9.7 million in state, federal, and user fee funding. State law requires counties to provide a variety of core services, such as election administration, law enforcement, and motor vehicle registration. Counties are primarily funded by local tax revenue, and they generally use this revenue to cover the costs of providing the services state law requi...
This audit evaluated whether entities implemented 9 previous audit recommendations. We determined that 4 of the 9 recommendations have been implemented. The 5 Groundwater Managmeent Districts implemented 1 recommendation from our 2023 audit. of them? The Departments of Revenue and Commerce implemented the recommendation from our 2023 audit of the Rural Opportunity Zones Program. The Secretary of State's Office implemented 1 recommendation, partially implemented 1 recommendation, a...
Of the 20 districts we reviewed, only some had adequate access controls for their accounting systems, and very few had adequate written policies. School districts use accounting systems to manage their expenses and report on their financial information. It’s critical that school districts protect their accounting systems against unauthorized access. School districts are not required to follow the state’s IT security policies. We compiled a set of IT security and accounting best practices to e...
The High Performance Incentive Program (HPIP) allows qualifying businesses to earn state income tax credits based on their expenditures on employee training and education and on qualifying capital investments. We couldn't report how much HPIP credit businesses earned and used in recent years because of reliability issues with KDOR's HPIP data. We identified inconsistencies in the data that KDOR officials told us they were trying to resolve. The Kansas Affordable Housing Tax Credit (KAHTC) is...
This audit evaluated whether agencies implemented 6 previous audit recommendations. We determined that 3 of the 6 recommendations have been implemented. The Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) and Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) implemented 2 recommendations and partially implemented 2 other recommendations from our 2022 audit of foster care services. The Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) implemented the recommendation from our 2022 limited-scope a...
The Building a Stronger Economy 1.0 and 2.0 grant programs (or BASE grant programs) awarded almost $150 million in federal funds to Kansas businesses for infrastructure development. The Department of Commerce selected which program applicants would be awarded funding. It required BASE grant recipients to provide matching funds equal to at least 25% of the project cost. We reviewed the planned matching expenditures in all 72 BASE grant award agreements. Commerce approved planned matching expen...
From 2021 – 2023, Manhattan, Overland Park, and Wichita appeared to use most of their transient guest tax revenue appropriately, but a small portion was inappropriate or unclear. Kansas statute allows cities and counties to charge guests at hotels or other short-term lodgings a tax (called a transient guest tax), which local governments can then use to fund tourism-related expenditures. Most cities with a transient guest tax charge more than the 2% rate in statute because they use the home ru...
The federal government reimburses school districts for meals they serve to students through the National School Lunch Program. Students receive a free or reduced-price lunch through the National School Lunch Program if they meet 1 of several criteria including participating in certain federal programs, being a migrant student, and having household income of 130% or less than the federal poverty line. In Kansas, the state provides at-risk funding to school districts based on the number of stud...
3 state agencies are responsible for taking and investigating allegations of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Those agencies are the Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS), the Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), and the Department of Children and Families (DCF). These agencies may refer alleged perpetrators to 3 state licensure boards: the Board of Healing Arts, the Board of Nursing, and the Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board. The state's process for investigating a...
The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) oversees Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) services to help older adults and people with disabilities. Until 2024, KDADS contracted with Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) to provide ADRC services. In 2024, KDADS split the one AAA contract for ADRC services into 2 contracts, one for the Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) assessments and one for the remaining ADRC services. KDADS officials told us they changed the ADRC ...
This limited-scope audit evaluated the outcomes of the Kansas Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) investigations and audits from calendar years 2021 through 2024, with a focus on financial recoveries and prosecutorial results. The OIG is an independent entity within the Kansas Attorney General’s Office and is tasked with increasing accountability and oversight of Kansas medical (and other) assistance programs through audits, reviews, and investigations. To assess the impact of OIG’s work,...
The Department of Commerce evaluated BASE 1.0 grant program applicants using a standardized scoring rubric, but it didn’t consistently follow its process or document the Secretary’s final award decisions. The Building a Stronger Economy 1.0 grant program (or BASE 1.0) awarded almost $100 million in federal funds to Kansas entities for infrastructure development. Commerce received 445 BASE 1.0 grant applications requesting a total of about $1.7 billion. Of the $99 million Commerce awarded to 3...
The Kansas Office of Veterans Services allowed participating Veteran Service Organizations to take fundamentally different approaches in reporting VCAP matching obligations, which may or may not comply with state law. The state’s Veterans Claims Assistance Program (VCAP) is meant to provide claims assistance to veterans in Kansas through congressionally chartered veteran service organizations. The Legislature appropriates annual funds for VCAP which is administered by the Kansas Office of Vet...
The Kansas Department of Transportation created the Cost Share Program in 2019 to help fund transportation projects in local communities. In Fall 2019, KDOT awarded $1.19 million in Cost Share Project funds to the City of Great Bend to reconstruct the historic dragstrip and shutdown area (this includes both the track and the portion of the racetrack after the finish line where cars slow down). The dragstrip project was completed in May 2021, but within a couple months, stakeholders raised con...
The Ford County election office administers elections in Ford County, Kansas. This audit was a follow up to a 2024 audit that reviewed Ford County’s ballot reconciliation process for the 2024 primary election. In that audit, we found poll workers at 1 polling site did not follow the proper processes by allowing a poll worker to vote without signing the poll book as required by state law. For this audit we reviewed Ford County's ballot reconciliation process for the 2024 general election and f...
The Ford County election office administers elections in Ford County, Kansas. We previously reviewed Ford County’s tabulation machine testing practices during the 2022 general election and found their practices were inadequate because they didn't use pre-audited test ballots with predetermined outcomes that tested for overvote rejection. This audit is a follow up to that review. For this audit, we reviewed Ford County’s tabulation machine testing process for the 2024 general election and foun...
The state provides funding to school districts for adult students earning a high school diploma through a virtual program. KSDE established a process for districts to submit adult virtual student credits for funding. We reviewed about 5,900 credits that 9 school districts submitted for funding across 2 years to determine if those credits complied with state statute. Nearly all (99%) the credits the districts submitted appeared to comply with the criteria set in state law, but there were a few...
The Building a Stronger Economy 1.0 grant program (or BASE 1.0 grant program) awarded almost $100 million in federal funds to Kansas businesses for infrastructure development. The Department of Commerce awarded SOFTwarfare a BASE 1.0 grant in April 2022 to build a data center in Great Bend, Kansas. SOFTwarfare’s grant agreement allowed them to use grant funds for construction and equipment costs and matching funds for permitting, inspection, and administrative costs. As of September 30, 2024,...
In Kansas, state law requires that all water supply systems and wastewater treatment facilities are supervised by a certified water operator. Kansas Department of Health and Environment is responsible for administering Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment Operator certifications, which include certifying examinations. Within both certification programs, operators can be certified at five different classes: Small Systems (“base level”), Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, and Class 4. Kansas regulatio...
The Rundown with Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit
We estimate the 3 counties we reviewed spent $28.8 million providing a selection of 3 services in fiscal year 2024, which was partially offset by $9.7 million in state, federal, and user fee funding. State law requires counties to provide a variety of core services, such as election administration, law enforcement, and motor vehicle registration. Counties are primarily funded by local tax revenue, and they generally use this revenue to cover the costs of providing the services state law requi...
