Federal rental aid audit prompts Augusta to bring in outside investigators

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Auditors say they can’t fully verify how millions in federal pandemic dollars sent to Augusta were spent.

City leaders have approved an Office of Inspector General investigation into the Housing and Community Development Department.

Augusta’s housing department received about $26 million in emergency rental assistance funds during the pandemic.

Auditors verified roughly $13.3 million was spent properly, most of it through payments to United Way. About $6.2 million was returned to the federal government because it went unused.

But auditors could not confirm how $6.8 million was used.

Audit reveals mismanagement

Auditors said money was mixed with other accounts, transactions were recorded inconsistently, and there was not a clear paper trail to track where specific dollars went.

Auditors said that made it difficult to know how the money was spent.

Emails obtained show City Administrator Tameka Allen asked auditors whether this was mismanagement and whether federal money was used for other expenses.

Auditors responded their findings pointed to mismanagement but said determining criminal wrongdoing was outside their role.

“It kind of felt like a hit in the stomach because our goal is to find out what is truly happening,” Allen said. “And unfortunately, they could not even provide us that information based on their expertise in the auditing field. So it goes to show that there’s a lot for us to do, a lot of things for us to correct.”

City leaders approved two outside groups to help them get back on track with their finances. Commissioners approved $32,500 a month for CKH Consulting Services to help with the finance department and $8,750 a month for BluLynx Solutions to help with Housing and Community Development.

Commissioners also voted to bring in the Office of Inspector General to look into the Housing and Community Development Department.

“The thing that I would like to stress to the community is that the governing body is being proactive and trying to make sure they do everything within the legal realms to come up with a solution as to what is actually going on in our Housing Community Development and what is necessary to actually earn the trust back from our constituents,” Allen said.