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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
08-2-0045
December 17, 2007
Why We Did This Review
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
Office of Inspector General
(OIG) conducted a review of
earmarked grants known as
Special Appropriation Act
Projects issued to local and
tribal governments. We
selected the Wayne County
Water and Sewer Authority,
New York, for review.
Background
The Wayne County Water and
Sewer Authority received an
EPA Special Appropriation
Act Project grant, Grant No.
XP98247201. The purpose of
the grant was to provide
Federal assistance of
$4,350,000 for designing and
constructing a 500,000 gallon
per day regional wastewater
treatment plant and sewer line
in the Town of Wolcott, New
York. The Wayne County
Water and Sewer Authority
was required to provide local
matching funds equal to 45
percent of the EPA-awarded
funds.
Catalyst for Improving the Environment
Unallowable Federal Funds Drawn on EPA Grant
No. XP98247201 Awarded to the Wayne County
Water and Sewer Authority, New York
What We Found
The Wayne County Water and Sewer Authority (grantee) claimed and was
reimbursed for preaward costs of $276,268 that are unallowable under Federal
regulations and the grant terms and conditions. As a result, EPA will need to
recover $151,947 under Grant No. XP98247201.
The grantee's financial management system does not provide accurate information
to ensure costs are claimed in accordance with Federal regulations. We found four
instances of inaccurate disclosures. As a result, we had no assurance that the costs
were not being claimed more than once or that the grantee was complying with the
funding or matching requirements for the various funding sources.
What We Recommend
We recommend that the Regional Administrator, EPA Region 2:
1.	Obtain recovery of $ 151,947 in unallowable preaward costs under Grant
No. XP98247201.
2.	Require the grantee to reconcile costs claimed for each of the sources of
funding to ensure that financial reports are accurate and costs claimed in
accordance with grant requirements.
For further information,
contact our Office of
Congressional and Public
Liaison at (202) 566-2391.
To view the full report,
click on the following link:
www.epa.qov/oiq/reports/2008/
20071217-08-2-0045.pdf

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