Reports

The objective of the audit was to determine whether the use of Public Health Emergency Leave aligned with Port policy. In order to achieve this objective, Internal Audit utilized a risk-based approach, selected a sample of individuals who took Public Health Emergency Leave.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a fiscal emergency for the City of New York, creating significant revenue shortfalls and increased costs associated with managing the public health crisis. Federal relief funding has been inadequate in helping resolve the budget gaps emerging from the fiscal emergency. In response, the City has requested since May that its Transitional Finance Authority (TFA) be provided with authorization by the State Legislature to borrow up to $5 billion to maintain spending and make up for lost revenues not reimbursed by the federal or State government, a practice referred...

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is facing the greatest challenge in its history. On March 1, 2020, New York City reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19, a highly contagious respiratory disease. In the weeks that followed, the caseload grew rapidly in New York City and the downstate region, and the novel coronavirus then spread across the nation. The MTA forecasts budget deficits of $3.4 billion in 2020, $6.3 billion in 2021, $3.8 billion in 2022, $2.8 billion in 2023 and $3.1 billion in 2024. The July Plan’s projected budget gaps are historic in nature. The gap in 2021...

This review was completed as a non-audit service and does not constitute an audit conducted in accordance with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards. In agreement with management, we performed the following tasks: Reviewed practices for tracking COVID-19 related payroll and non-payroll expenditures; Reviewed the adequacy of tracking and systems/software for emergency management events; and Researched cost recovery funding sources for local government.

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.

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.