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Audit Finds Lax Oversight of Billions in Florida COVID-Relief Grants
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Audit Findings on COVID-Relief Oversight
A 2022 audit of the State of Florida’s Compliance and Internal Controls over Financial Reporting and Federal Awards identified a systemic failure by the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) to monitor any subrecipients of Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) awards.
Funding Scope and Audit Details
During the 2020-2021 fiscal year, FDEM approved $210,562,500 for 39 local government recipients. In the subsequent year, it distributed $1,026,225,200 to 55 locations, bringing the total to $1.23 billion. The audit notes that acceptable oversight would normally include on-site evaluations, inquiries of recipients, and review of subrecipient audit reports—none of which were performed according to the report.
Official Statements & Responses
Rep. He added that he left the agency a year before the audit was issued to care for his ailing father and that, to his knowledge, Florida’s COVID spending had passed the FEMA audit for reimbursements. Moskowitz also highlighted prior bipartisan praise for his disaster-recovery work.
Verbatim Quotes
- “When Jared Moskowitz ran a state agency, federal regulators and state auditors found that there was a gross lack of oversight of billions of dollars of taxpayer funds, a lack of reporting, a lack of review of where the funds were going,” — Scott Singer
- “And that's unacceptable, especially with public tax dollars. But it's not surprising.” — Scott Singer
- “When Jared was a state representative, he went to his own city and demanded that they pay more for hurricane cleanup that went to a disaster recovery company that paid him millions,” — Scott Singer
- “As Director of FDEM, I worked directly for Governor DeSantis and his administration. Florida had one of the best COVID responses in the country,” — Rep. Jared Moskowitz