State Auditor Rob Sand released a report Tuesday revealing $26 million in misallocated court debt within Iowa’s Judicial Branch from fiscal years 2021 to 2024. An independent investigation attributed the misallocation to programming errors caused by legislative funding changes in 2020 and 2021, which the State Auditor’s Office confirmed. The report revealed that a Department of Management employee identified the issue on July 26, 2022, over three months before notifying the Auditor’s Office and two years before Department of Management Director Kraig Paulsen claimed it had “recently” come to his attention. The Auditor’s findings also confirmed that claimed underfunded accounts, including the Crime Victim Compensation Fund, always held sufficient balances to meet legislative funding goals. Sand called for accountability from the DOM director and Attorney General Brenna Bird and accused them of distorting facts. Sand says, “The explosive, documented truth in this report shows that while others push politics as usual, wasting your time and money, we in the Auditor’s Office have just been doing our jobs.” Video from Sand’s press conference on Tuesday is included below.
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