Let's hope they manage services better than they manage funds

State (again) says county owes
Kimball Perry, Cincinnati Enquirer, Sept. 20, 2006.

Auditor unable to track $150M of children's services money
For the second time in a week, an Ohio agency hammered Hamilton County for not being able to account for how it spent taxpayer money.

And for the second time in a week, Hamilton County officials are downplaying the audit findings, saying it's an accounting issue that will be resolved without a break in services to poor children and families.

Ohio Auditor Betty Montgomery released an audit Tuesday of Hamilton County's Department of Job and Family Services, the agency responsible for providing assistance to foster children, collecting child-support payments and helping the needy.

Montgomery's 47-page audit concluded that Hamilton County improperly used money intended to pay for services to children for other, more general, public assistance needs.

The audit noted that from July 2001 through June 2004, Hamilton County spent $150 million of money in a children's services fund on other programs.

Montgomery suggested that money be paid back to the children's services account if documentation isn't provided for how it was spent.

"It doesn't mean it was improperly spent," she said. "It means we can't tell how it was spent."

County Administrator Patrick Thompson insisted that the paperwork will be provided."I think we can document each and every dollar," he said.

The reason they weren't documented initially, Thompson said, was "we were following procedures outlined and given to us by those very state agencies."

In fact, added Glenn Whitaker, the attorney Hamilton County hired for this issue, Montgomery's audit appears so damning to the county because of a failure by another state agency, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

The children's services money that Montgomery's audit questioned was placed in a single account to pay for services for children provided by several Hamilton County agencies - mental health, alcohol and drug addiction services, and so on.

Because Montgomery couldn't document how all of the money was spent, she questioned all of it.

Last week, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services released an audit involving the same issues.

That audit noted that the Hamilton County Job and Family Services Department couldn't document how it spent hundreds of millions of dollars in public money and found that it had to pay back $224 million.

Hamilton County officials angrily shot back that that also was an accounting discrepancy, stressing that money in question was spent on providing services to poor children and families.

ODJFS also accused Hamilton County of commingling its money, making it impossible to determine what money paid for which services.

That is a problem because many programs funded with federal money have to be matched with local money, and Hamilton County might have used the same local dollar to match federal programs.

Because Montgomery's office doesn't have enforcement power, it's likely her recommendation to transfer $150 million into the children's services fund won't happen, Thompson and Whitaker said.

The audits won't stop Hamilton County from continuing to provide services to children, Thompson said. Those services are mandated by Ohio law.

Montgomery's audit findings come six weeks before Hamilton County voters decide on continuing the children's services levy.

Now, the levy - which helps pay for services to abused and neglected children and those in foster and adoptive care - generates $41.6 million a year, less than half of the $111 million children's services budget. It expires at the end of this year.

The levy is on the ballot to be renewed at the same amounts for five more years.Already, Thompson said, Hamilton County is moving to change its accounting system to track the source of money and how it is spent.

Montgomery's office also was unable to determine how Hamilton Count spent $37.8 million in foster-care money.