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Pioneer Landscaping Diesel Fleet Mechanic Trades/Construction Pioneer Landscaping Yard Person/Loader Operator Trades/Construction Lectra-Serv, Inc Electricians & Helpers Trades/Construction Paragon Electric Electricians Trades/Construction Wentz and Patrick Construction Carpenters & Helpers General Prestige maintenance USA Custodian General ADVANCED AUTOMOTIVE DISPATCHER/SECRETARY Hourly UpdateAudit faults paper trail on state's homeland security grantsAssociated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.03.2006
PHOENIX - Arizona has awarded $175 million in federal homeland
security grants since the Sept. 11 terror attacks without doing enough
to ensure that it was properly awarded and spent, state auditors
concluded Tuesday.
The awards of federal money to 200 state agencies and local governments
included 450 projects in 2003-2005. The cash was spent on a wide array
of items, ranging from protective gear for first responders to
installation of video surveillance equipment for government facilities.
However, a special financial audit conducted by the legislature's
Auditor General's Office said the Department of Emergency Management and
the Office of Homeland Security in many cases either didn't document why
projects received funding or if the money actually was spent for the
approved purposes.
The special audit noted that only $1.4 million, or less than 1 percent
of the $175 million, was spent by the state for management and
administrative functions of the grant program.
Three previous reports issued in recent months by the Auditor General's
Office and by two executive-branch agencies reached similar or
overlapping conclusions. Department of Homeland Security Director Frank
Navarrete said in a response accompanying the latest report that
numerous corrective steps either had been taken or were under way.
Those steps include include consolidating the grant program in one
agency, creating a new filing system for grant documentation,
reconciling grant awards against reimbursement requirements and hiring a
senior official to oversee financial aspects of the grant program,
Navarrete said.
Several Republican legislators issued a statement saying the audit
indicated an inability to communicate and a failure to focus the grant
program.
"The state cannot provide even the most basic information about millions
of dollars spent supposedly to protect us," said Rep. Laura Knaperek,
R-Tempe.
Similar concerns about record-keeping and lack of oversight have been
aired in such states as Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. In Virginia, a state
report found that a few localities misused money, spending it on such
unauthorized items as ice-rescue equipment, ventilation fans and
T-shirts.
The Arizona Department of Homeland Security itself was created under a
law enacted earlier this year to effectively elevate the Office of
Homeland Security to department status and formalize its creation. Gov.
Janet Napolitano created the office by executive order several months
after taking office in 2003.
The special audit was authorized by a legislative oversight committee in
May at the request of House Speaker Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix.
Though Weiers said he wanted the audit partly to determine whether the
state's grants were for federally permitted purposes, the report said
the oversight committee did not ask for a detailed review of all
projects.
The audit report said auditors examined 58 projects closely and found no
unallowable spending. But it noted that lack of records and
documentation prevented determinations on whether all projects were
allowable.
The federal government's homeland security grant funding to the state
has declined over time, starting at $57 million in 2003 and declining to
$23.5 million by 2006.
Besides handling the allocation of homeland security dollars, the new
department is responsible for developing a state homeland security
strategy, coordinating with other state and federal agencies, conducting
preparedness training exercises and helping prepare regional response
plans.
The bill that created the department originally would have required that
federal homeland security dollars sent to Arizona be subject to
legislative appropriation. That is generally not done with federal money
and would have been a change steadfastly opposed by Napolitano and her
predecessors as an infringement on their executive-branch constitutional
turf.
Numerous local officials testified against the bill at the Legislature,
saying they feared it would cost them valuable input at the regional
level on how to divvy up the dollars.
The enacted legislation did not include the appropriation requirement.
Instead, it requires the department to report planned uses of the money
to a state advisory council. As before, regional advisory councils make
recommendations on spending priorities.
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