Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Report: Poplar Grove incorrectly billed residents, needs to improve internal controls - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

POPLAR GROVE — Years of haphazard record keeping and disorganized cash-management procedures have cost the village of Poplar Grove a “significant,” but unspecified, amount of revenue and jeopardized finance and personnel files.
Earlier this month, the accounting firm Lauterbach & Amen completed a 21-page report for village leaders that recommended 28 changes to improve the village's internal controls. The report revealed several problems with the way village staff handles cash and other administrative duties.
According to the report, sensitive financial information and personnel files have been kept in unlocked cabinets in the front office of Village Hall, residents have been billed incorrect amounts for public utilities, and information on payments to employees has been downloaded onto USB devices that have been lost, misplaced or kept overnight by staff members as part of the transport to banks to initiate payment.
The evaluation found village employees and leaders have routinely ignored an ordinance requiring the Village Board to approve purchases totaling $2,500 or more. There have also been frequent delays in check deposits, sometimes for days or weeks at a time, and delays in posting revenue receipts into the village's accounting system, which "causes difficulty in investigating and identifying discrepancies," the report states.
In one bizarre example of the village's poor financial management, the report said staff members occasionally took money from a nearby soda machine to make change for residents attempting to pay utility bills.
“When you don’t have proper procedures in place, correct checks and balances, you open yourself up to a lot of scrutiny and things could happen that are faulty,” said Matt Beran, who oversaw Lauterbach & Amen’s evaluation. “You allow that there could be fraud happening, there could be some things going on. Those are your risks if you don’t actually do anything … and some of those things were actually (affecting) the village’s bottom line — they weren’t billing and getting money that they’re actually, rightfully owed.”
Because the village doesn’t maintain a formal rate schedule detailing utility charges for residents, there have been “several instances” in which rate changes were not communicated to village employees, resulting in lost revenue, according to the report. Employees also had different interpretations of how utility charges were calculated and applied.

To read  the entire  RR Star article :  Report: Poplar Grove incorrectly billed residents, needs to improve internal controls - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

To read the actual auditors report:  http://www.villageofpoplargrove.com/vertical/sites/%7BBB8156E5-19AE-4976-960A-C2DC686F7EB9%7D/uploads/VPG_Board_Agenda_Back-up_08-17-15.pdf

Governor Rauner escalates attacks on homecare | RiverBender.com

 

Administration Announces Suddenly They Will Cut Off Payments to Providers

ALTON – After repeated assurances from Bruce Rauner that state workers would continue to get paid despite the continuing budget impasse, his administration’s Department on Aging has issued a letter reversing course. The agency letter informs providers (Including Senior Services Plus) in the Community Care Program (CCP) that payments will not be processed for services performed since July 1st – the day Rauner’s government shutdown began – and will not be paid until the impasse is resolved. 

This declaration by the Rauner administration contradicts a verbal understanding between CCP providers and agency staff, while flying in the face of consent decrees requiring the state to pay these providers.

The agency letter politely asks CCP providers it informs of the cutoff to “please continue normal operations” in the interim.

Gov. Rauner’s payment cutoff is just the latest salvo in his ongoing war against home healthcare and its providers. Rauner previously announced cuts to homecare programs that would end services for 50,000 Illinois seniors and people with disabilities, jeopardizing their health and independence—and likely forcing them out of their homes into more expensive nursing home care. 

“Gov. Rauner is engaging in relentless attacks on critical services that provide a lifeline to our state’s seniors and people with disabilities, and now he has escalated that war to include their providers,” said Bob Thieman, executive director of the Illinois Association of Community Care Program Home Care Providers.

Senior Services Plus and other local CCP providers ask that the public call and voice their opinions to those in power: Governor Rauner (217-782-0244); Speaker Michael Madigan (217-782-5350); President John Cullerton (217-782-2728

Governor Rauner escalates attacks on homecare | RiverBender.com