Audit committee recommends fraud, waste and abuse program to Board of Commissioners

A city government program designed to find fraud, waste and abuse was recommended Tuesday to the Carson City Board of Supervisors.

Carson City’s Audit Committee voted without dissent to recommend the next steps, seeking governing board approval to set up a hotline and methods for handling cases when they come to light. The program could cost $27,000 to $34,000 annually, according to an internal audit consulting firm’s representative.

The city’s audit panel also voted to recommend city government continue using the services of the internal audit consultant, Moss Adams LLP, a CPA and consulting firm, at least through mid-2014. The cost, expected to be about $110,000 for the year, was left to the board’s determination.

Mark Steranka and Nancy Young of the consulting firm were on hand to describe the future fraud program steps, which came on the heels of earlier insights regarding whether to establish such a whistle-blower and cross-checking program for city government.

Young said the program is virtually ready, with some fine-tuning to include ethics training, should the mayor and supervisors approve it. She said an outside firm could handle the hotline part of the program for about $4,000. Two possible outside firms in materials provided to the committee were Lighthouse Services Inc. and Go Global Compliance Inc.

Moss Adams, meanwhile, would be considered for the role of program coordinator to follow up on the workload and help oversee training.

Steranka gave a breakdown of estimated costs: $4,000 for the hotline; $20,000 or coordination; and $5,000 to $10,000 for training. Young said if the board approves, perhaps at the July 18 meeting, there will be little lag time in getting started.

“It’s ready to go,” she said.

On hand for part of the discussion was Supervisor John McKenna and, for all of it, Supervisor Brad Bonkowski. Bonkowski didn’t comment on particulars, but he noted from what he has heard in previous board meetings, the proposal didn’t seem off-base regarding general approach.

“I haven’t heard anything out of line with that,” he said.

The committee also gave its blessing to a Moss Adams approach for future work on basic audit services; the fraud, waste and abuse program; city fleet use; and providing performance metrics for government. Left untouched were ideas for a utility billing study, a wastewater capital program study, and an Affordable Care Act Risk Assessment.