Allegations vs. Welfare Division dismissed

Friday, Sept. 29, 2000 | 10:52 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A team of federal auditors has cleared the state Welfare Division of allegations of misappropriation and misuse of money collected for child-support payments.

The federal Office of Children Support Enforcement said it found some areas that could be improved in the processing of support payments, but no evidence of mishandling money.

The investigation was launched at the request of the Nevada Chapter of the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support, which suggested that federal tax refunds attached to pay back child support were not properly used. The money, the association said, was put into a fund to pay employee salaries, rather than forwarding it to the families.

State Welfare Administrator Mike Willden said Thursday he was pleased to receive the results of the audit. "There has been no wrongdoing," Willden said. "It is very upsetting to be charged inappropriately.

"The public and the people receiving child support payments need to have confidence we maintain proper fiscal controls. The audit report concludes we do."

The auditors sampled 50 cases and found all but one were processed in accordance with federal regulations.

The audit said, however, that the Welfare Division did not meet the six months' deadline allowed in getting the money out in all cases. The six-month time frame is permitted to allow other people who might have claims against the tax refund to file them.

The financial examination found that only 20 percent of the tax refunds were disbursed within the deadline to the families. Although the agency did not meet the time frames, the auditors said they did not find any misuse of funds.

"Delays are primarily attributable to the state converting from state and county systems to a single statewide system," the auditors said. The state changed over to the NOMADS computer system, which has faced a variety of problems.

"These delays should be alleviated in the near future as the state completes conversion of all cases to the statewide system," the auditors said.