Driehaus gets involved in JFS audit

State Rep. Steve Driehaus is stepping in on behalf of Hamilton County and its pocketbook. He's urging the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to re-consider its infamous audit that said the county JFS owed millions of dollars (county-hired analysts begged to differ.) No word yet on when this issue will be resolved.

Here's the press release:

Rep. Driehaus Asks for Job and Family Services Audit Correction
Independent Examination Exposes Flaws in State’s Criticism of Spending

CINCINNATI – State Representative Steve Driehaus (D-31st District) sent a letter today to Director Helen Jones-Kelley at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), asking her office to reconsider a scathing special audit of Hamilton County Job and Family Services (HCJFS).

The audit done in 2006 by ODJFS’s Office of Research, Assessment and Accountability found $1.761 billion in questioned costs and $223 million in findings for recovery. However, Rep. Driehaus noted that the $1.985 billion in findings more than doubled HCJFS’s $890 million in revenue during that same span.

“It seems obvious to me that the auditors counted the same dollar several times over,” Rep. Driehaus said. “That bad math must be changed for the good of the children and families who depend on the county department, and for the good of the taxpayers who help fund that assistance.”

Crowe and Chizek performed an independent review of the audit and found $111 million in questioned costs and no findings for recovery.

Rep. Driehaus’ letter to Director Jones-Kelley asks for a “swift and just resolution to this issue.”