LBPOST.com: Audit Concludes Long Beach Can Properly Handle Stimulus Funds

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Audit Concludes Long Beach Can Properly Handle Stimulus Funds

by Ryan ZumMallen | Long Beach News | 01.27.10 |

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3:00pm | An internal audit has concluded that the City of Long Beach has properly adhered to strict requirements that make the City eligible to receive funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment (Stimulus) Act of 2009.

City Auditor Laura Doud released the audit yesterday and concluded that Long Beach has established necessary internal controls to ensure that the city meets eligibility requirements and can properly handle the funds and prevent fraud.

This is significant because the Stimulus funds are considered �high risk� for fraud, waste and abuse because of the pressure to quickly spend such large amounts of money. Much of the audit centers around the City�s ability to establish internal controls that ensure fraud and waste do not occur.

�My Office took a proactive approach to make sure systems are in place to comply with the high standards attached to Stimulus dollars,� said Doud. �By getting out in front now we can assure taxpayers that the City has protections in place to spend the money as it was intended.�

The report, �Internal Controls Over Stimulus Funds,� can be downloaded from Doud�s website (click here).

The City of Long Beach has so far received $113,542,640 in Stimulus funding, according to the City Manager�s office. The most recent grant received is a $22 million award to prevent foreclosures and promote new homeownership � LBPOST.com columnist Don Jergler examined the grant in greater detail in this recent article.

To date, the City of Long Beach has received every dollar that is has requested.

�While continued diligence and attention is needed with these funds, we are pleased that Long Beach has taken its responsibility seriously to implement controls and minimize risk of non-compliance,� said Doud.

Disclosure: LBPOST.com co-founder Shaun Lumachi is under contract with the Office of the Long Beach City Auditor.

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3 Comments so far.

Erin
Laura Doud rocks!

Joseph E
Could we get more details on the specific grants funded? I know that there were some sidewalks fixed in my old neighborhood, but Alamitos Beach could use a bunch of sidewalk improvements. And new bike lanes could be painted very quickly at a low cost. Is there any more money for street repairs on the way?

oh uh huh
excuse the bitterness i came by it honestly -namely the Funds granted by LA county for flood repair -the Termino Drain Project was held up for ten years, count them, until LA would take back the money if Long Beach didn't use it. So figure in about ten years they might fix your sidewalks if you smile and say PRETTY PLEASE.

Long Beach News

LBPOST.com Managing Editor Ryan ZumMallen keeps up on all the current and breaking Long Beach news.

Ryan ZumMallen has served as the managing editor of the LBPOST.com since 2007. He graduated from CSULB with a degree in Print Journalism in 2008 and is a member of the 2009 class of Leadership Long Beach. You can find him on various basketball courts around the city.

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