Audit says Evers administration should provide more details on COVID spending

MADISON - Gov. Tony Evers' administration should disclose more information about how state officials distributed billions of federal coronavirus relief funding across the state, a new nonpartisan state audit concluded.

State auditors last week released a review of how the Department of Administration spent nearly $6 billion in federal aid aimed at helping states navigate and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic that is now entering its third year.

In a letter to leaders of the state Legislature's audit committee, Legislative Audit Bureau director Joe Chrisman said DOA officials did not provide auditors with information showing how state officials made decisions regarding where to distribute the funds Evers has discretion to spend, which so far has amounted to $3.7 billion. But auditors did receive information about the planned use of the remaining $1.8 billion left to distribute, he wrote.

"Providing clear and comprehensive information will allow legislators and the public to more readily identify how these funds are spent in the future," Chrisman wrote.

Between March 2020 and June, Wisconsin received $5.7 billion in relief funding from federal laws known as the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan Act, and the Consolidated Appropriations Act.

Evers has sole discretion over the spending of most of the funding − a power Republican lawmakers unsuccessfully sought to diminish or remove in several pieces of legislation. GOP leaders of the Legislature's audit committee also requested a review of how the funds were distributed.

To conduct the review, auditors asked DOA for funding requests, agendas and minutes of meetings that discussed the distribution of the funds, planning worksheets, summary documents describing the use of the funds, and written approvals from Evers to use the funds. In response, auditors instead received press releases and links to state agency websites.

DOA Secretary Kathy Blumenfeld said in a letter responding to the audit that these decisions were mostly made through daily conversations due to the unpredictable nature of the pandemic's threats.

She said DOA provided auditors with "policy underpinnings and need for programs and investments" through memorandums of understanding between DOA and state agencies and in public documents created to announce programs funded by the relief dollars.

"The critical need for both expediency and responsiveness in administering these funds so that the state could meet evolving needs both from a public health and economic perspective lent itself to decision-making that took place largely through near-daily conversations with the Governor’s Office and relevant agency partners," Blumenfeld wrote.

“DOA’s administration of these funds has been crucial to the state’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and has played a part in putting the state in its best financial position ever.”

The influx of federal cash helped reduce state spending and boosted state revenues, contributing to the projected $6.6 billion budget surplus lawmakers and Evers now have for programs and services.

Audit committee co-chairman Sen. Rob Cowles, R-Green Bay, said the audit showed a need for more input from the Legislature in how federal funding is distributed.

“Unfortunately, the Governor has rejected any contribution from the Legislature on priorities for the use of federal funds. However, it is the role of the Legislature to serve as the state’s fiduciary, where tax dollars are allocated in open forum through the committee process,” Cowles said in a statement. “It is evident that the Legislature should have greater involvement on the allocation of federal funds and receive consistent reporting about ongoing spending efforts.”

Auditors recommended to DOA officials to document the decision-making process to increase transparency and clarity of funding decisions.

“Such documentation can also explain why initial funding decisions were subsequently modified, including because more-pressing needs for the funds were identified and because the federal government modified spending requirements after DOA had used the funds,” auditors wrote.

Auditors also recommended modifying state law to require DOA to periodically report to lawmakers specific information about the distribution of such federal funding.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Audit says Evers should provide more details on COVID spending