Miami-Dade County Elections Department Invoice ReviewN\1~~/v\1 BlEACH
BUDGET AND PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT
Internal Audit Division INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT
TO:
VIA:
FROM:
DATE:
AUDIT:
PERIOD:
Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager
Kathie G. Brooks, Budget and Ptrfo ma,~ce Improvement Director
James J. Sutter, Internal Auditor ,;.;:J,i}
January 12, 2009
Miami-Dade Elections Department Invoice Review
October 29, 2007 through November 20, 2007
This audit is the result of the City Clerk's request to review the expenses relating to the Miami-Dade
County Elections Department's $95,679.67 invoice pertaining to the municipal elections held on
November 6, 2007 and the $71,802.16 invoice for the subsequent run-off election held two weeks
later on November 20, 2007.
INTRODUCTION
The Miami-Dade County Elections Department (MDCED) conducts elections, registers voters, and
maintains voter records and election results for Miami-Dade County and all of its municipalities.
Miami-Dade Elections Department's main offices are currently located at 2700 N.W. 8ih Avenue in
Doral and are presently under the supervision of the County's Supervisor of Elections.
Early voting for Miami Beach constituents to elect a Mayor and three Commissioners was held at
various locations throughout the City between October 29, 2007 and November 4, 2007 with the
actual election held on November 6, 2007. For those races in which a candidate did not receive
more than 50% of the votes, a run-off election was held on November 20, 2007 in accordance with
City Code Section 2.01. The following illustration shows the amounts invoiced to the City for the last
three regular and run-off elections:
Year 2005 2006 2007
Regular Election Dates 11/15/05 11/07/06 (1) 11/06/07
Elections Amount Invoiced $ 88,879.00 $ 5,962.00 $ 95,679.67
Run-Off Election Dates 11/29/05 11/21/06 11/20/07
Elections Amount Invoiced $ 53,286.00 $ 68,843.35 $ 71,802.16
Totals I Amounts Invoiced I $142,165.00 $ 74,805.35 $167,481.83
(1 ): City elections were held together with countywide elections. As a result, amounts invoiced to the City were
materially less. Since it is a county election, most costs are paid by the county.
Amounts invoiced to the City have been historically affected by two major components. One is the
increase in poll worker compensation along with inflationary factors affecting the cost of supplies,
truck rentals, etc. T~e second component is the number of municipalities holding elections
concurrently. According to the Miami-Dade Elections Department, there are costs incurred during
elections held by multiple municipalities that can not be specifically identified to a particular
municipality; therefore they are allocated among all municipalities using a weighted average method
based on the number of registered voters for each municipality.
In 2006 and 2008 the City of Miami Beach held special elections concurrently with Countywide
General Elections. Costs invoiced for these elections as compared to city regular elections are as
follows:
Internal Audit Report
Miami-Dade Elections Department Invoice Audit
January 12, 2009
Election Dates 11/15/05 11/07/06 (1)
Amount Invoiced $ 88,879.00 $ 5,962.00
11/06/07 1/29/08 (1)
$ 95,679.67 $ 2,964.00
(1 ): City elections were held together with countywide elections on these dates. As a result, amounts invoiced to the City
were substantially less.
City elections held concurrently with Countywide elections reflect a reduction of the costs incurred by
the City. On average the City's cost is estimated to be about $87,816 higher for elections not held
concurrently with the Countyvvide elections.
Similar analysis have been completed and proposed by District 6 County Commissioner, Rebecca
Sosa (LTC 125-2008) and the MDC ED, with all data reflecting substantial cost savings for municipal
elections held during countywide elections. However, this is a policy decision to be determined by
City Commission, based on the best interest for the City.
OVERALL OPINION
Although the Miami-Dade County Elections Department provided several schedules, documents,
reports, and vendor invoices substantiating most of the line items invoiced to the City of Miami
Beach, the documentation could be improved. Also, the requested schedules were not easily made
available and it was not always easy to trace to the supporting numbers without assistance from the
Election's administration. In addition we found that insufficient supporting documentation was
provided for the Administrative Overhead charge of 20% which starting in 2006. This allocation was
not supported by adequate documentation and should not be charged to municipalities
PURPOSE
The purpose of this audit is to determine whether invoices for City held elections submitted by the
County are supported by actual costs and allocations based on reasonable supported methods and
documentation.
SCOPE
1. Verify that proper documentation is maintained to support invoiced amounts charged for
municipal elections in 2007.
2. Confirm that the allocation methods are reasonable and accurately applied to the municipal units
being charged.
FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND MANAGEMENT RESPONSES
1. Finding: Insufficient information and support documentation was provided to substantiate
amounts invoiced to the City for Administrative Overhead.
Administrative Overhead, which is billed at 20% of the total invoice items, equaled $28,407.64
for the 2007 regular and run-off elections and the 2008 Countywide Special Election (received
subsequent to our audit) as follows:
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Internal Audit Report
Miami-Dade Elections Department Invoice Audit
January 12, 2009
Election
Munici12al Election 11/6/07
Municipal Election Run-Off 11/20/07
Count~wide Election {S12ecial} 1/29/08
Totals
Invoice
Subtotal
$79,733.06
59,835.13
2,470.00
$142,038.19
Administrative Total Invoice
Overhead
$15,946.61 $95,679.67
11,967.03 71,802.16
494.00 2,964.00
$28,407.64 $170,445.83
Further testing found that Administrative Overhead of $12,467.89 was invoiced to the City for the
first time during the municipal elections held in 2006.
The Miami-Dade County Elections Department or MDCED started this practice during the 2006
elections to charge for those expenses which are more difficult to allocate amongst the various
municipalities. The MDCED provided us with an explanation that these charges included but
were not limited to the following expenses:
• Fleet Costs /Gas
• · Senior Staff-Precinct, Tabulation, Audit, Etc.
• Electricity
• Post Audit
• EDMS Process-Precinct Registers
• Poll worker payroll processing
• Usage of machines including Revavote.
• Printing Costs-(Precinct Registers, Authorization Slip, etc.)
Internal Audit requested further supporting documentation or any authority to charge this
administrative overhead including County Ordinances or agreements that would justify the
percentage charged. In response, the MDCED provided an inter-county e-mail between their
· department and the Miami-Dade County Finance Department whereby MDCED personnel
inquired regarding where to find the Elections Administrative Overhead percentage rate for the
current fiscal year. No additional guidance was provided to better define "Elections
Administrative Overhead percentage rate" on that e-mail. The response stated that the latest
Indirect Cost Plan was a couple of years old and it was 16.72%. It also stated that they were
currently working on issuing a new Indirect Cost Plan.
Consequently, Internal Audit conducted additional procedures, which included further research
of county ordinances and inquiries for standard invoicing practices of Administrative Overhead
for municipal elections in other counties. Both Broward and Palm Beach counties do not charge
any administrative overhead. Our additional procedures did not reflect any merits for the charge.
We opine that these costs are of an administrative nature and would exist whether or not an
election occurred and should be borne by the MDC ED in carrying out their required operations of
administering elections within the county.
Recommendation(s):
Since no primary reference or supportive allocation has been provided to substantiate the merits
of a 20% Administrative Overhead charge, we recommend that the City attempt to recover the
amounts paid for these administrative charges. This maybe accomplished by either seeking a
refund or deducting the overhead charge from future amounts due.
Page 3 of 4
Internal Audit Report
Miami-Dade Elections Department Invoice Audit
January 12, 2009
2 Finding: Detailed supporting documentation was not readily available for review.
Although the Miami-Dade County Elections Department (MDCED) provided supporting
documents for most of the line items invoiced to the City for election costs incurred, information
and reports for poll worker payroll was not readily available and additional efforts were
necessary to reproduce the reports provided. In addition,the reports generated did not make
reference to dates worked, precincts in which poll workers worked, etc. Moreover, backup
documents provided for Labor/Overtime hours worked by seasonal employees and regular
employees on the Outreach division, precinct supplies, and phone line activation charges were
handwritten and also did not reference dates and/or precincts. Other noted immaterial
discrepancies included employee classifications, training site invoicing, etc.
Recommendation( s ):
The MDCED should make all maintained supporting documentation readily available to the
municipalities for review. In addition, these documents should be closer scrutinized to determine
if all needed information is present to provide a proper audit trail. Suggested revisions include
adding the dates worked by staff, the precincts worked by poll workers, etc. to the supporting
documents.
MDCED'S MANAGEMENTS' RESPONSE
A draft report was submitted to the Miami-Dade County Elections Department (MDCED) on
December 22, 2008 for solicitation of comments and management's response. Due to heavier than
expected workloads generated by the recent elections and other issues encountered by the
MDCED, they have requested an extension for their response until mid February of 2009. Upon
receipt of MDCED's response, we will distribute it to the respective parties.
JJS:FM
(Audit performed by Fidel Miranda, Auditor)
F:\obpii$AUD\INTERNAL AUDIT FILES\DOC07-08\REPORTS-FINAL\ELECTIONS DEPARTMENT INVOICE AUDIT.doc
cc: Robert Parcher, City Clerk
Patricia Walker, Chief Financial Officer
Lester Sola, Supervisor of Elections
Rena A. Saiter,.Assistant Deputy Supervisor of Elections
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