April 28, 2009 05:47 PM UTC

Jeffco or Slopco practices

• 0 Comments
• by: JeffcosSuperman

Columbine Courier wrote:

 “A fund that Jefferson County taps to meet its matching requirement for Head Start preschool services apparently is not large enough to cover the county’s. County Commissioner Kathy Hartman said she’s “been aware of, and involved with this situation for some time.” She credits Johnson and her staff for finding the problem, which she calls a serious issue.

 I believe Jeffco was made aware of this from an audit that ended December of 2004.  Pages 69-71 http://www.co.jefferson.co.us/…

Johnson and her staff had nothing to do with this discovery. Can the TRUTH please stand up!!

Concerning the Head Start program, it reads “There were no effective controls in place over matching or earmarking. The 20% match requirement was not met and the County exceeded the 10% maximum for children over the income threshold for at least three months of 2004….This $48,945 shortfall in meeting the required match total indicates the expenditure of $244,725 that were NOT matched. Therefore $244,725 of the program expenses are questioned costs.”

 KPMG noted this and soon after they were replaced by another auditor. The county announced this in a news release.

Will Jeffco Human Services FINALLY be OPEN and  HONEST. When will it finally be said “OUR whole accounting system is a mess?”

The Food stamps and Medicaid programs had techs gone astray with how the programs work.  The county practices and procedures were not in line with State law or common sense.  

 T. Howard (CPA) said “It was like getting into a car and not knowing what to do with the keys”.

The report stated “The County made sweeping changes in its financial organization after the seating of the new Board of County Commissioners (BCC) in January 2005. The BCC began with the removal of the finance director and elimination of the Finance Department. The office of Internal Auditor was created in 2005…”

If things had been so SWEEPING in 2005, then who was the one that did such a poor job on the floor? If you’ve been involved with Jeffco then you KNOW a dirty floor can get you in a heap of trouble.

Columbine Courier went on to write:

“The problem was discovered after Johnson became the department director in the summer of 2007 and began creating a line-item budgeting and accounting system. After Johnson and her staff began digging into how money came into the program, they couldn’t accurately say where the county match was coming from.”

The audit reported said “We recommend that the County establish, implement, and enforce basic accounting policies…We further recommend that the County evaluate the knowledge base and credentials of individuals in key financial reporting roles and evaluate whether the responsibilities assigned are properly matched with the individuals’ capabilities and skill levels…” The department DID NOT have basic budgeting skills. So can they honestly attest to anything?

Lynnae Flora, acting director of the community assistance division, was an acting director of the Head Start program before Johnson arrived.  “We started uncovering budgeting that was strange,” Flora said. “I don’t think there was anything illegal. It was just really sloppy bookkeeping.”

When money and families are at stake, can slop be afforded?

This is another area of wasting taxpayer money and not having the integrity to be open and honest about it.

County Administrator Jim Moore said Johnson inherited the problem and “is working to correct it.” He points out those internal and federal audits done on the program two years ago did not find the problem”

Need we say more, this has been known for a LONG time!!! Can we finally get INTEGRITY? Can Jefferson County Department of Human Services really attest to anything? If they do we got our boots on! Do you?