ECHO and Volusia Forever audits find programs efficient and effective

Posted On: May 19, 2020

When delving into the fiscal and operational activities of 20-year-old, multi-million dollar programs, there’s an awful lot of ground to cover.

So when Volusia County’s internal auditor recently spent a couple of months probing a pair of tax-supported programs that fund recreational facilities and land preservation, it was fully expected that the review would identify some issues that would need to be addressed. After all, the audit of the county’s ECHO and Volusia Forever programs involved the rigorous examination of more than 2,000 compliance data points going back two decades. So when the audit reports for the twin, tax-supported programs were presented Tuesday, Volusia County Council members were pleased with the findings and the small number of recommendations for improvement – about a dozen.

But they were also ecstatic that the audits didn’t turn up anything more than that.

“After 20 years, a body of work that’s never really been audited, this is a really great outcome,” remarked County Council member Deb Denys.

Volusia County voters approved both programs in 2000 and both are scheduled to sunset at the end of the next budget year. The ECHO program provides grant funds to finance acquisition, restoration, construction or improvement of facilities for environmental, cultural, historical and outdoor recreational purposes. The Volusia Forever program finances the acquisition and improvement of environmentally sensitive, water resource protection and outdoor recreation lands that are being managed by the county as conservation stewards in perpetuity.

To fund the programs, the original voter mandate authorized two small property taxes of up to two-tenths of a mill each for ECHO and Volusia Forever for 20 years. While no decision has been made, the council has been discussing whether to put the programs on the fall ballot to let voters decide if they want them to continue beyond their current expiration date. The council tasked its internal auditor in February with conducting the audits, saying the reviews would be helpful in determining the future of the programs.

The audits included a random review of financial transactions to ensure that both programs are operating efficiently, effectively and in compliance with their guiding laws, rules and regulations. A few minor issues were noted in the audits. For example, there were a small number of instances where transactions weren’t coded or applied correctly, causing a transfer of money to be about $3,200 short to the ECHO fund. The County Council approved a budget resolution on Tuesday to return the money to the ECHO fund. In another instance, after a grant was approved, the scope of the project changed significantly and the changes weren’t brought back to the oversight committee for review and approval. And in a small number of cases, when inspecting files going back 15 years ago and longer, some of the documentation wasn’t in the project files.

Overall, the county’s internal auditor, Jonathan Edwards, noted while presenting the ECHO audit that the program is “running efficiently and effectively.”

The recommendations contained in the audits for the most part are easily addressed by staff. For instance, they include such things as determining when a change in a project’s scope should be brought back to the oversight committee, ensuring that written summaries of committee meetings appropriately capture discussion items, carefully reviewing all transactions to ensure proper coding and application of invoices to purchase orders and ensuring consistent use of logs to document site visits. The audit also recommends that the ECHO program consider either giving more priority to projects that are construction-ready or expanding the project deadlines for larger projects beyond the current 2-year requirement. Council member Billie Wheeler said she appreciated the recommendations and saw them as an opportunity for improvement.

“The suggestions, the recommendations that you made, I think, is exactly what we were needing to hear,” Wheeler told Edwards. “Thank you so much for such a thorough report. It showed us our slight weaknesses that we have. But more than anything, it showed us how to make it better. And that’s what we’re all here for.”

With the audits now completed and no serious issues found, the County Council is planning to move forward with discussing whether to place ECHO and Volusia Forever on the fall ballot to see if voters want to renew the programs. The council is scheduled to discuss the matter at its next regularly scheduled meeting on June 2.

The audit reports can be viewed here:

https://www.volusia.org/government/internal-auditor/internal-audit-reports.stml