Reports

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in upheaval to the economy and government services. Ulster County needed to address the questions of people and organizations during the pandemic as it related to public health concerns. To address public questions and concerns, Ulster County established a COVID hotline. Despite allocating significant resources to promotion and widening the scope of the Service Center, it still receives few calls. The call volume does not seem to align with the staffing and additional resources being allocated to operate a separate unit of government. This downtime could...

Our audit sought to determine if unemployment claims filed in the name of Ulster County employees were handled in accordance with current law and Ulster County policy. Our audit revealed that the Personnel Department properly identified fraudulent unemployment claims and challenged those claims. In addition, the Personnel Department staff appropriately notified the Sheriff’s Department and the Information Systems Department about the potential unemployment insurance fraud. However, it appears that some employees may not have been notified by the Personnel Department that they were the victims...

The Student Success Act provides an extra $1 billion of tax money a year for early childhood education and K-12 school improvement. It requires the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to track district performance and work with districts to improve, building on other recent state and federal initiatives and bringing the state the closest it has been to meeting the funding recommendations of the Quality Education Model. This advisory report identifies five key risks we found that could undermine K-12 system improvement as the state implements the 2019 Student Success Act. The report draws on...

This report is a summary of the costs related to responding to the pandemic that the Ulster County Comptroller’s Office was able to aggregate from existing reported financial and personnel data for 2020. The County continues to incur substantial costs in the current year 2021, many of which are offset by pandemic related revenue streams, such as the cost of operating vaccination clinics. We have reviewed the 2020 expenditures to assist in both improving the accounting for these costs and potentially identifying and obtaining revenues to offset these costs.

The Comptroller’s Office surveyed Ulster residents on potential uses of the American Rescue Plan funds. The survey was promoted on social media from March 24 through May 3, 2021, and in electronic newsletters to the Comptroller’s Office distribution lists. Two hundred and twelve people responded. Respondents were provided with 14 potential options for the use of funds and asked to grade each on a score of 1 to 10.

We have conducted a statewide audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. This report encompasses the year ended June 30, 2020, and is required for the State to continue receiving federal financial assistance, which, as shown in this report, totals approximately $17 billion.

This advisory report suggests actions the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), Oregon Health Authority (OHA), and the Legislature can take to reduce illness and death from communicable diseases in nursing homes, assisted living, and residential care facilities, now and in the future.

The Department of Administrative Services (DAS) made progress on 11 of the 16 recommendations from the original audit, fully implementing six. COVID-19 response and preparation for the 2021-23 budget made it difficult for DAS to implement some recommendations, specifically those pertaining to end of biennium spending. Additionally, the agency’s choice to deviate from standard response options in four recommendations made our follow-up work more difficult and limited accountability and transparency.