Reports

The objective of these assessments is to help the City prepare for state and federal audits of the City's use of emergency funding. The key to successfully withstanding any future audit will be the City's ability to provide sufficient documentation regarding the appropriate use of state and federal funds. The scope and methodology of these assessments includes pro-active and real-time assistance in complying with regulatory requirements, securing reimbursements, tracking disaster recovery costs, and evaluating whether funds are being used efficiently and effectively.

This letter report provides an update on our assessment of the State’s management of federal funds related to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a high risk statewide issue.

We reviewed the allocation process and monitoring of emergency COVID-related service grants the City has made using funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the State of California. This preliminary review, the third in a series on emergency expenses,1 aims to support cost recovery oversight, including compliance with federal and state record-keeping, procurement, and audit requirements, as outlined in the Recovery Annex of the City’s Emergency Operations Plan.

The purpose of this document is to describe the general regulatory and internal control framework the City of Sacramento will operate under for the City’s COVID-19 response and all COVID-19 related activities. This document is an essential resource for the City as it identifies key COVID-19 regulatory and internal control information that can aid in maximizing the City’s eligibility for State and Federal resources. This document is a general guide for the City to use.

We recommend that the City Council accept the City Auditor’s preliminary review of documentation for COVID-19 related costs to support receipt of emergency public assistance through the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF).

This letter report identifies 18 state agencies that will each be responsible for managing a portion of the federal COVID‑19 funds. Before finalizing our determination to add this issue to the state high risk list, we notified the 18 responsible state agencies about our preliminary determination and invited them to provide their perspective on the issue. We received responses from 12 of the 18 state agencies, and we summarize those responses at the end of this letter.

We recommend that the City Council accept the City Auditor’s interim report on the status of internal controls for documenting COVID-19 related costs to support receipt of emergency public assistance grants through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

This special report provides information to assist Berkeley’s leaders in navigating the financial challenges ahead. We conducted interviews and reviewed data from government finance and budget officials to compile information on estimates of how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the local economy and Berkeley’s revenues and expenditures; and considerations from government finance and budget officials for the City Manager and Council to inform decisions about how to manage resources as revenues decline and expenditures increase.