We audited the Waterbury Housing Authority’s administration of its asset management projects based on a risk assessment that considered the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) risk assessment and the Authority’s funding and number of asset management units.  Our overall audit objective was to determine whether Authority officials ensured that expenses charged to the Authority’s asset management projects complied with HUD regulations. 

Authority officials generally supported the allocation of costs of more than $10 million to the asset management projects.  While adequate controls were established and implemented to ensure that costs charged to the projects were supported, the allocation of one employee’s salary to the projects was not adequately supported.  This deficiency occurred because the Authority lacked adequate procedures to track employee time spent on frontline and nonfrontline activities to ensure that employee time was appropriately charged between its asset management projects and central office cost center.  As a result, one employee’s salary of $169,081, allocated to the projects, was not adequately supported.

We recommend that the program center coordinator of HUD’s Hartford Office of Public and Indian Housing require the Authority to support $169,081 in salary costs charged to the asset management projects or repay any unsupported amount from non-Federal funds.