Date Issued: January 3, 2003 Audit Memorandum No.: 2003-CH-1007 File Size: 6720KB
Title: City of Minneapolis Empowerment Zone Program Minneapolis, Minnesota HUD's Office of Inspector General completed an audit of the City of Minneapolis� Empowerment Zone Program. The objectives of our audit were to determine whether the City: (1) efficiently and effectively used Empowerment Zone funds; and (2) accurately reported the accomplishments of its Empowerment Zone Program to HUD. The audit was part of our Fiscal Year 2002 Annual Audit Plan. The audit was conducted based upon our survey results and two requests from Congress. The United States House of Representatives� Conference Report 107-272 directed HUD�s Office of Inspector General to review the use of Empowerment Zone funds and to report our findings to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The United States Senate�s Report 107-43 also requested us to review the use of Zone funds and report our audit results to Congress. We concluded that the City did not accurately report the accomplishments of its Empowerment Zone Program to HUD and needs to improve its oversight of Empowerment Zone funds. Specifically, the accomplishments of the City�s Empowerment Zone projects were inaccurately reported to HUD and the City inappropriately used $9,705 of Empowerment Zone funds to pay expenses not related to its Near North Planning and Development project. We also found that the City used Empowerment Zone monies to fund seven projects that have not provided benefits to Empowerment Zone residents or benefited only 3 to 38 percent of Zone residents as of June 2002. Five of the seven projects are scheduled for completion between December 2003 and December 2011, and the remaining two projects were completed between December 2001 and July 2002. We recommend that HUD�s Director of Renewal Communities/Empowerment Zones/Enterprise Communities Initiative assure that the City of Minneapolis reimburses its Near North Planning and Development project from Empowerment Zone Administration funds for the inappropriate use of Zone funds and implements controls to correct the weaknesses cited in this report. http://www.hud.gov/oig/ig351007.pdf (Full Report) Posted by Shawn Lewis, Field Neighborhood -- ___________________________________________________________ Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
