MRDD OKs perfomance audit for the sake of comparison

The agency will be compared to similar programs.

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

LISBON — The Columbiana County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities will see how it stacks up to similar MRDD boards.

The county MRDD board voted Wednesday to spend $40,000 for a performance audit.

The move came as the county MRDD board voted to remove a 2.5-mill levy from the primary ballot that would have generated $3.3 million a year.

William Devon, the board’s superintendent, took responsibility for the figures that he said showed the need for additional revenue.

The board, however, ended 2007 with $6.3 million — or about half its annual spending.

MRDD also has about $3 million it says is earmarked for care of its clients after their parents pass away.

Parents and workers at Wednesday’s board meeting, meanwhile, leveled complaints that included understaffing, a lack of equipment, poor communication and having to fill out paperwork repeatedly.

Emily K. Frazee, a spokesperson for the state auditor’s office, said Thursday that the performance audit will look at what the board is doing and ways it can improve its effectiveness.

“We’ll see where they stand,” Frazee added.

The state will look at all of the MRDD’s programs and say what the MRDD can do better, she said.

The state will also compare the county MRDD with similar-size operations in other places.

When it comes to any recommendations, Frazee said many proposals may be small.

The state may recommend new computer software to save time and money, comment on where money is allocated, and note any accomplishments made at the county MRDD.

Frazee said the audit could take about five months.

The MRDD is normally included in the county’s routine state audit, which encompasses all the county offices.

The performance audit is not like the special audit that was done at the county board of health.

After the special audit, county health Commissioner Robert Morehead was indicted on a charge of one count of theft in office, one count of theft and five counts of forgery. He is accused of improperly spending health department funds between 1994 and 1998.

County Auditor Nancy Milliken said that the MRDD has computer access to read information in her office’s computer system that records payments, purchases and other figures.

Devon had complained he wasn’t getting timely printed financial reports. Milliken said she or her staff would print the reports any time the MRDD asked for one.

wilkinson@vindy.com