Objective

To determine if the Office of Court Administration (OCA) is ensuring court facility aid and assistance programs are being used for only eligible expenses. The audit covers the period April 1, 2015 through March 31, 2018.

About the Program

OCA is responsible for directing and overseeing the administrative operations of all courts in the Unified Court System (UCS). UCS serves the State’s 62 counties through 13 Judicial Districts, including nine District Offices (Nassau and Suffolk counties have separate District Offices within District 10) and the Deputy Chief Judge for New York City. OCA administers several programs for municipalities and local justice courts that assist in the maintenance and improvement of court facilities. The Court Facilities Incentive Aid (CFIA) Fund reimburses municipalities for cleaning, maintenance, and improvements to court-occupied space. OCA administers the CFIA program through its District Offices for all areas outside of New York City. For New York City, OCA works directly with the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to administer the CFIA program. The Justice Court Assistance Program (JCAP) provides annual grants of up to $30,000 to towns and villages for court improvements, including security enhancements, renovations, and furnishings.

Key Findings

• While OCA has processes for ensuring its facility aid and assistance programs are used for only eligible expenses, review and approval processes are not standardized across the District Offices. For CFIA, for the three-year period ending March 31, 2018, we identified a total of $301,000 in questionable expenses (out of $2.1 million reviewed) for two District Offices and New York City, including purchases with missing or incomplete documentation and municipalities claiming incorrect amounts. Ninety-one percent – or $273,000 – of the questionable expenses were attributed to two municipalities within the same district.
• For JCAP, for the same period, we also identified about $21,000 in questionable expenses (out of $274,000 reviewed), including unapproved purchases, purchases with insufficient supporting documentation, and purchased items that could not be located at court facilities during site visits.

Key Recommendations

• Provide training to District Offices to standardize the review and approval of submitted CFIA claims.
• Take action to review and recover, where applicable, the $301,000 and $21,000 in questionable CFIA and JCAP expenses, respectively.