by Eugene A. DePasquale

 

Good morning,

I recently released two major audits that may be of interest to you. One found that the welfare benefit system failed to detect benefits being issued on cards associated with Social Security Numbers of dead people; the other warns that our prestigious horse racing industry may be in jeopardy.

Last month, I issued an interim audit report which found the Department of Public Welfare put more than $200,000 in welfare benefits on ACCESS Cards associated with the SSNs of dead people.

You may have seen some of the media coverage topped with headlines like: “Zombies or Fraud?” and “Dead People Collecting Welfare.”

Over a nine-month period, DPW placed an estimated $212,000 on ACCESS Cards. The interim audit report can be viewed by clicking here.

Thanks to our report, changes are already being made. We turned our findings over to DPW Secretary Bev Mackereth who said a comprehensive review of the ACCESS system was underway and that several cases of suspected fraud were turned over to the Office of Inspector General.

Rest assured, my department continues to monitor this situation. I will update everyone when our final audit is completed later in 2015.

State Racing Fund Audit

I also recently released our findings on the State Racing Fund. It was troubling to see that our horse racing industry risks a catastrophic shutdown if steps aren’t taken to increase revenue and stop the diversion of racing funds to plug holes in the state’s budget.

Our audit found that the Department of Agriculture overcharged the State Racing Fund nearly $900,000 for services and could not document another $5.2 million in expenses over a four-year period where directly related to services provided to racing commissions.

You can review the State Racing Fund audit by clicking here.

Since my report was issued, there are calls for better oversight and to increase outdated occupational and horse industry licensing fees which go back to the 1980s.

Both of these recent reports garnered considerable attention from the media. Please enjoy reading a sampling of the news coverage by clicking on the headlines below.

Thank you for your continued interest. We will continue to fight for transparency, openness and good government.

Best,
Eugene A. DePasquale