Cash-strapped Montgomery County has not audited employee expense reports that are nearly 2 1/2 years old, The Washington Examiner has learned.
Officials in County Executive Ike Leggett’s public information office were unable to provide expense reports filed by department heads since the beginning of fiscal 2009, which started July 1, 2008, because they haven’t been verified.
“We can’t give you that information because it hasn’t been fully vetted yet,” said county spokeswoman Donna Bigler, of reports during the past two years.
She said budget cuts and modifications to how employees’ expenses are filed have hampered their ability to track down the information. It has been three months since The Examiner requested the reports.
Leggett’s Office of Internal Audit traditionally reviews all the expense reports filed by executive branch officials, but the audit office’s $441,000 budget this fiscal year is $220,000 less than last year and half of the budget from two years ago. Larry Dyckman, manager of the internal audit department, is the lone county employee on the department’s payroll.
As a result, expense reports are now forwarded to the county’s Finance Department for final review.
Some say the episode showcases oversight issues that could become more common in light of the county’s budget woes — and could cause the county to miss out on possible savings.
“That does seem like quite a long time to complete that,” said Councilman Phil Andrews, D-Gaithersburg/Rockville, of the reviews. “It definitely worries me.”
Earlier this year, Inspector General Thomas Dagley — who plans to leave his office in coming months, halfway through his term — said Leggett’s representatives interfered with some of his most damning investigations. And funding for the county’s ethics commission, which examines conduct of county employees, absorbed a 20 percent hit this fiscal year.
The brunt of employee expenses are tied to travel costs, which are reported quarterly, Bigler said. She added that travel expenses plummeted during the past two fiscal years but could not provide numbers to support her claim.
Audit shortages are unlikely to subside anytime soon.
Leggett has told departments to brace for another 10 percent to 15 percent reduction in their budgets next fiscal year. The library budget, for example, was already gutted by more than 23 percent this fiscal year, while transportation was cut 21 percent and the county’s recreation department took a 15 percent hit.
