Louisiana audit finds financial issues with state's drinking water loan program

(The Center Square) — According to a recent audit, the Louisiana Office of Public Health failed to properly handle the finances of its clean drinking water fund in 2023.

An audit by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor's Office examined the last fiscal ending in June 2023 and found weaknesses in cash management, financial reporting and payroll for the Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund Program.

This fund was established in 1997 to provide low-interest loans and technical assistance for public water systems to ensure safe drinking water. The program is funded through U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants and some state funds.

According to the report , the Office of Public Health failed to adequately review the fund's financial report causing the financial statements and other related disclosures to have numerous errors requiring adjustments.

One error on the statement involved $2.7 million of statutory dedicated funds being erroneously reported as operating revenue. According to auditors, this money should have been recorded as non-operating revenues.

Some unearned revenue to the tune of $855,606 was also not properly reported as such on the statement of net position, and instead was marked under accounts payable.

Three elements required by the EPA were not disclosed on the office's loan receivable note.

The department did not manage the grant cash sufficiently, and it resulted in overdrawn federal awards within the drinking water program.During fiscal 2023, the office of public health drew $855,606 in excess of the allowed budget for the applicable award year. As noted above, they improperly marked this money and was unable to disburse it into program purposes before the end of the year.This surplus was a problem for the federal agency because their duty is to ensure monies are disbursed only as needed, and spent quickly and efficiently. Lastly, the office did not always approve payroll expenditures for the program, as required by state policy. In a sample of 40 payroll transactions pulled from a total 267 transactions equaling $833,436, two, or 5%, of the time stamps were not approved by the employees' supervisors.The auditors said, besides these instances, the office complied with the requirements set forth for the fund's financial statements.