A Monroe County Clerk’s audit revealed various issues related to the management of grants administered by Monroe County Social Services.
The audit covered the fiscal years 2022 to 2024 and identified problems with compliance, operational structure and record-keeping. Deficiencies in oversight and outdated practices may have led to a potential budget shortfall exceeding $2 million.
“Monroe County Social Services’ unstructured work environment created an opportunity for MCSS to seriously mismanage its grant funds which, in turn, appears to have created a material budget shortfall for the county,” reads the clerk’s audit report. “In other words, MCSS management did not ensure that grant revenue was available to cover the department’s expenditures.”
The clerk’s audit report says the financial irregularities identified do not indicate employee theft. Rather, they indicate deficiencies in financial recordkeeping, including improper bookkeeping, unreimbursed expenditures, misclassification of expenses and other accounting errors that accumulated over multiple years.
In response to the report, county officials say the issues are being addressed by Tina Boan, the assistant county administrator and Cathy Crane, the new director of community services who assumed management of these operations in mid-June.
Boan said the county takes the audit’s findings “very seriously and are fully committed to long-term change to make sure the department is remediated.”
“The county is committed to ensuring the responsible stewardship of public funds and is implementing corrective measures to strengthen internal controls, improve operational efficiency and ensure full compliance with grant requirements,” she said.
The department, under new leadership, has acknowledged the audit findings and is taking steps to improve operations, including establishing defined workflows and implementing new policies and procedures; adding staff training and cross-training; implementing a centralized intake and case-tracking system; transitioning from paper-based to digital records, including time-keeping and applications; and improving budgetary tracking and grant reconciliation processes.
The county will hire an outside firm to help with the forensic reconciliation of associated grant cost centers and will conduct a year-by-year review to identify expenditures that were not properly budgeted. Additional training and policy updates are underway to ensure alignment with county administrative requirements and federal and state grant compliance standards.
As part of the constitutional responsibilities, the Monroe County Clerk’s Internal Audit Department provides independent, accurate and timely audits of Monroe County government’s business activities, operations, financial systems and internal controls.
Monroe County commissioners will discuss the audit at their Aug. 20 meeting in Key West.
