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FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
NONCOMPLIANCE WITH APPROPRIATION ACT
The Board charged the salary of one employee to the wrong appropriation.
The Board’s Appropriation Act is separated into two sections. The first section
appropriates amounts necessary for ordinary and contingent expenses of the Board. The
second section appropriates amounts to meet ordinary and contingent expenses of the Board
as prescribed under Public Act 89-126. Effective for the 1996 assessment year, Public Act
89-126 increased the Board’s jurisdiction to hear appeals for counties with a
population of 3,000,000 or more. During FY97, the Board established an office in Des
Plaines to hear appeals for counties with a population greater than 3,000,000,
specifically, Cook County.
One employee assigned to the Des Plaines Office was paid from amounts appropriated to
the Board to comply with Public Act 89-126; however, the majority of services were not
performed in Cook County, but at other counties throughout the State. The employee was
hired in April 1999 and reported directly to the Chairman of the Board. The employee
worked from home and was responsible for attending hearings, evaluating hearing sites, and
evaluating hearing officers. However, vehicle logs, daily attendance, and itineraries were
not maintained and the Board minutes did not reflect the employee’s attendance.
(Finding 1, pages 8-9)
We recommended the Board expend funds only from the proper appropriation. We further
recommended that the Board maintain adequate documentation of employee’s attendance,
itineraries, and automobile mileage records.
Board officials agreed with our finding and recommendation and stated that the Board
has requested and was granted approval by the Governor’s office to combine the two
divisions in the FY02 budget so that the agency will operate as a single unit. The
employee has been advised to comply with the reporting and record keeping standards
applicable to all State employees.
INADEQUATE CONTROL OVER PROPERTY
The Board did not maintain adequate control over property. Some of the conditions
noted follow:
- One of eight (12%) Quarterly Report of Fixed Assets (Form C-15) was not filed with the
Office of the State Comptroller.
- Five of eight (63%) Form C-15’s filed with the Office of the State Comptroller were
inaccurate or the Board failed to maintain the supporting documentation of entries on the
forms.
- The Board did not submit an accurate certification of inventory for December 31, 1998 to
the Department of Central Management Services (DCMS).
- The Board purchased office furniture from the wrong appropriation. (Finding 2, pages
10-12) This finding has been repeated since 1996.
We recommended the Board adequately supervise and control property inventory, properly
and timely submit quarterly reports of fixed assets and the annual certification of
inventory as required by statute and State Accounting Management Procedures (SAMS).
Board officials agreed with our findings and recommendations and noted that reports
have been timely filed since December 16, 1999. In addition several proactive measures
were put in place to improve control over inventory. (For previous agency responses, see
Digest footnote #1.)
INADEQUATE CONTROL OVER VOUCHER PROCESSING
The Board did not have adequate controls over voucher processing. We noted the
following:
- Twelve of 123 (10%) vouchers tested totaling $24,046 were approved 33 to 117 days after
receipt of the vendors’ invoices.
- Six of 123 (5%) vouchers totaling $11,781 that were tested had a date per vendor invoice
that did not agree with the invoice voucher.
- Seven of 123 (6%) vouchers totaling $17,236 that were tested were not coded with the
proper SAMS code. (Finding 5, pages 18-19) This finding has been repeated since 1996.
We recommended the Board follow its system of internal controls, the Illinois
Administrative Code and SAMS over voucher processing, and devote sufficient resources to
monitoring the system and to supervising employees.
Board officials agreed with the finding and recommendation and noted it has made
changes to regain control over voucher processing.
INADEQUATE CONTROL OVER TELECOMMUNICATION EXPENDITURES
The Board's telecommunication expenditures had no evidence of review or approval
for out-of-state and out-of-country telephone calls.
In twelve of 24 (50%) telecommunication expenditures totaling $25,151, the invoices
included 174 out-of-state calls totaling $133 and 15 calls to Canada totaling $35. There
was no indication of purpose, review, and/or approval of these calls. (Finding 6, page 20)
We recommended the Board adequately review telephone usage and document that review. We
further recommend that if any of the calls are determined to be personal in nature that
the Board seek reimbursement.
Board officials agreed with the finding and recommendation and stated it has issued a
memorandum dated February 16, 2000 reminding all staff of CMS and Board rules.
OTHER FINDINGS
The remaining findings are less significant, and Board management has responded
that appropriate corrective action is in process. We will review progress towards
implementation of our recommendations in the next audit.
Ms. Madeline Gumble, Chief Fiscal Officer, provided responses to our findings and
recommendations.
AUDITORS’ OPINION
We conducted a compliance audit of the Property Tax Appeal Board as required by
the Illinois State Auditing Act. The Board had no locally held funds or federal or State
trust funds. Consequently, there are no financial statements requiring a financial audit
leading to an opinion.
____________________________________
WILLIAM G. HOLLAND, Auditor General
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SPECIAL ASSISTANT AUDITORS
Parker & Meltzer were our special assistant auditors for this audit.
DIGEST FOOTNOTE
#1 INACCURATE PROPERTY CONTROL RECORDS - Previous Agency Responses
1998: "The Property Tax Appeal Board agrees with this finding and has taken
action to ensure accurate property control records for the future.
1996: "The Property Tax Appeal Board agrees with this finding. The Board is
currently taking back the responsibility for maintaining property control records from the
Department of Revenue and expects future accountability will be timely and accurate."
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