EPA auditors review how state records costs

Santa Fe New Mexican - Two auditors from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began examining records at several bureaus of the New Mexico Environment Department on Tuesday, state officials confirmed. The federal audit, which is expected to last a week and a half, is to determine how the state Environment Department recorded labor costs related to 13 federal grants worth about $55 million, state officials said.  "They just want to make sure what we are charging the federal agency is what the employees are working," Cathy Atencio, administrative services director at the state agency, said in a telephone interview. Later, Butch Tongate, the state agency's deputy secretary, said in a written statement that the audit was "more of a technical correction in the way we track our spending of federal grants. We want to fully comply with EPA's directives when it comes to cost accounting. We will comply with whatever findings come as a result of this audit." The EPA auditors started at the state Air Quality Bureau on Tuesday and planned to expand their examination to the Surface Water Quality, Drinking Water and Ground Water Quality bureaus over the next week and a half, Atencio said. Among the items auditors are reviewing are each bureau's timekeeping and payroll policies and procedures, a listing of current EPA grants and a listing of employees who worked on grants, according to an EPA memo. Read More News New Mexico

EPA auditors review how state records costs