By Teresa L. Benns
SAGUACHE— As has been the case for several years now, Saguache County continues to experience problems within its social services department regarding compliance with federal program guidelines, Wall, Smith and Bateman auditors reported to the county Tuesday.
Auditors Kim Temple and Jessica Bogner told commissioners, they had no issues with management in obtaining the information they needed to complete the audit and everything went very smoothly. Bogner credited county employees for the hard work accomplished in helping to complete the audit.
They further explained that internal control issues in small counties is not uncommon and acknowledged that in March there were “huge issues” with the state program that contributed to the problems. Bogner and Temple also said there has been a “huge improvement” generally compared to prior years.
“We suggest you continue to strengthen internal controls and see there is a conscious effort to improve,” they added. The audit offered the following qualified opinions on non-compliance by Social Services’ with federal guidelines. They explained in each item that “compliance with such requirements is necessary, in our opinion, for the County to comply with the requirements applicable to that program.”

Low-Income Home Energy
Assistance Program
“CFDA 93.568 Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program as described in Finding 2017-002 for Eligibility.

Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) Cluster
Requirements regarding CFDA 93.558 TANF Cluster as described in Finding 2017-
003 for Eligibility and Special Tests and Provisions. Compliance with such requirements is necessary, in our opinion, for the County to comply with the requirements applicable to that program.

TANF Cluster/Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program
In our opinion, except for the noncompliance described in the Basis for Qualified Opinion paragraphs, the County complied, in all material respects, with the types of compliance requirements referred to above that could have a direct and material effect on the TANF Cluster and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Unmodified Opinion on Each of the Other Major Federal Programs
In our opinion, the County complied, in all material respects, with the types of compliance requirements referred to above that could have a direct and material effect on its other major federal program identified in the summary of auditors’ results section of the accompanying schedule of findings and questioned costs for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Report on Internal Control Over Compliance
…Our consideration of internal control over compliance was for the limited purpose described in the preceding paragraph and was not designed to identify all deficiencies in internal control over compliance that might be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies and therefore, material weaknesses or significant deficiencies may exist that were not identified. However, as discussed below, we identified certain deficiencies in internal control over compliance that we consider to be material weaknesses.

A deficiency in internal control over compliance exists when the design or operation of a control over compliance does not allow management or employees, in the normal course of performing their assigned functions, to prevent, or detect and correct, noncompliance with a type of compliance requirement of a federal program on a timely basis.

A material weakness in internal control over compliance is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over compliance, such that there is a reasonable possibility that material noncompliance with a type of compliance requirement of a federal program will not be prevented, or detected and corrected, on a timely basis.

We consider the deficiencies in internal control over compliance described in the accompanying
schedule of findings and questioned costs as Findings 2017-002 and 2017-003 to be material
weaknesses. The County’s response to the internal control over compliance findings identified in our audit is described in the accompanying corrective action plan. The County’s response was not subjected to the auditing procedures applied in the audit of compliance and, accordingly, we express no opinion on the response.”

Auditors also advised the county they will receive a letter from the state auditor on over-budgeting sales tax for seniors. Other problems also were noted regarding public health record keeping and funds management, with Temple commenting that “something is wrong with their documentation.”
The auditors said they realize the county is dealing with new budgeting software and encouraged them not to be afraid to get back to the manufacturer and demand satisfaction if the program is not working properly. Commissioner Chair Jason Anderson also commented the county does not have sufficient personnel always to properly manage the various programs the county is responsible for overseeing.
Commissioners approved the audit.