UPDATED! State Auditor: Lisa lacking in government tracking
POSTED 30 July 2023
Spokane Receives State Auditor’s Clean Bill of Health - Lisa Brown’s Commerce Department’s Troubles Began Years Ago and Grew Exponentially
As published below, Lisa Brown’s WA Department of Commerce was found by the WA State Auditor to be deficient in over half-a-billion dollars of federal funds reporting. Meanwhile, the City of Spokane under Mayor Nadine Woodward was found to have no issues.
2021 State Auditor Report: City of Spokane
The state auditor found during their last review of the City of Spokane, January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 (page 4):
“Federal Awards Internal Control over Major Programs:
Significant Deficiencies: We reported no deficiencies in the design or operation of internal control over major federal programs that we consider to be significant deficiencies.
Material Weaknesses: We identified no deficiencies that we consider to be material weaknesses.”
Lisa Brown’s Department of Commerce’s federal funding problems were identified beginning in 2020.
The report on state agencies covering fiscal year July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. Section E “Federal Award Findings and Questioned Costs” (beginning page 230 of pdf), the state auditor writes under they found four items including:
“The Department of Commerce did not have adequate internal controls over and did not comply with federal requirements to conduct fiscal monitoring of subrecipients and ensure payments were allowable and properly supported for the Coronavirus Relief Fund.”
“The Department of Commerce did not have adequate internal controls over and did not comply with federal requirements to ensure subrecipients of the Coronavirus Relief Fund received risk assessments.”
On pdf page 235, the report summarizes financials regarding “Known Questioned Costs” and “Likely Improper Payments.” Commerce is listed as:
“Federal Grantor: U.S. Department of the Treasury “Coronavirus Relief Fund” Known Questioned Costs $4,124,518 and Likely Improper Payments $6,408,565.”
POSTED 28 July 2023
While we are still looking for an audited financial statement that Lisa Brown claims is available on her Camp Hope spending, we did find an audit report printed by the Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM) with the State Auditor’s assessments CLICK HERE FOR REPORT covering Lisa’s last full year (fiscal year ending June 30, 2022) as the director of WA Department of Commerce. It’s not good.
Beginning in Section III of the report “Federal Award Findings and Questioned Costs” (beginning page E-7), red flags begin to sprout like weeds. Here are just two examples:
“The Department of Commerce did not have adequate internal controls over and did not comply with requirements to ensure payments to subrecipients of the Emergency Rental Assistance program were allowable and properly supported.”
“The Department of Commerce did not have adequate internal controls over and did not comply with requirements to ensure it filed reports required by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act.”
In Section IV “Summary of Questioned Costs” (page E-15) the State Auditor found over half-a-billion in likely improper payments on Lisa Brown’s watch at WA Department of Commerce:
Federal Grantor - U.S. Treasury “Emergency Rental Assistance Program”
Known questioned costs by Commerce: $255,642,551
Likely improper payments by Commerce: $437,002,382Federal Grantor - U.S. Treasury “Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds”
Known questioned costs by Commerce: $22,886,606
Likely improper payments by Commerce: $71,007,353
The Schedule of Federal Findings and Questioned Costs section of the report (beginning page E-96) includes,
“However, we determined the Department did not complete fiscal reviews for 35 of the 38 ERA1 (Emergency Rental Assistance) subrecipients (92 percent) and all 12 ERA2 subrecipients (100 percent) during the audit period.”
“We consider these internal control deficiencies to be a material weakness, which led to material noncompliance”
The State Auditor concludes this section,
“Without establishing adequate internal controls, the Department cannot reasonably ensure it is using federal funds for allowable purposes and spending occurs within the allowed period of performance.
We question costs when we find an agency has not complied with grant regulations or when it does not have adequate documentation to support its expenditures.”
Similar serious problems with Commerce are detailed by the State Auditor in sections beginning on pages E-101, E-112, E-123 “Lack of Risk Assessments”, E-227, E-232, and E-238.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We are just beginning to learn the extent of Brown’s bad leadership at Commerce. No wonder she posted earlier this week, “I negotiated no contracts at Commerce.” We are hoping that the mainstream media will join us in getting to the bottom of Brown’s Enron accounting practices and how they seeped into our city.
Like a bad college basketball coach (Calipari comes to mind) who moves from program to program, leaving behind scandals and financial fiascos, Lisa Brown moves back and forth from elections to appointed political positions, leaving others to clean up her mess. Spokane doesn’t need a Coach Calipari, we need a Coach Few, who has committed to our City and isn’t using us as a stepping stone.
Our City’s Coach Few is Nadine Woodward.