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Auditor says Iowa courts’ multimillion dollar distribution error fixed
A report from the State Auditor’s Office indicates faulty computer programming in the state’s court system has been fixed for the current year, but court officials say they do not have the authority to reallocate funds to correct $27.5 million worth of errors in previous years.
Some court fines and fees are to be distributed to cities, counties and a variety of state programs, like victim services and road construction. Lawmakers changed the formulas a few years ago, but programming errors meant the state courts were forwarding the wrong amounts.
State Auditor Rob Sand held a news conference yesterday about his report — and the distribution errors.
“It should be fixed going forward,” Sand said.
Iowa Department of Management director Kraig Paulsen said court officials recently told him they believe the problem has been fixed.
“They’re still going through testing, so it hasn’t been finalized,” Paulsen told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “Until we have an audit, it’s hard to know for sure anyway.”
Sand indicated court officials recently sent his office the data about where the funds had been misdirected.
“They are accurate. This is the actual number for how much this account has been overfunded and how much that account has been underfunded,” Sand said. “Now that we know that, the legislature can make those adjustments.”
Paulsen, the governor’s budget director, said the auditor’s office needs to dig deeper.
“Can we actually say that everything is 100% correct? I don’t think so,” Paulsen said, “because I’m not even sure we have looked at it going back far enough yet.”
Paulsen, a former Republican legislator, and Sand, the only Democrat in statewide office, have been publicly feuding about the situation since October. Paulsen has said Sand failed to notify the executive branch once Sand’s office was told there might be a problem. Sand said Paulsen’s office knew DOT funding was affected before the auditor’s office learned of it.
