• Number of minority students enrolled
• Number and percentages of Wisconsin residents enrolled
• Average faculty salaries compared to national averages
• Development of cooperative educational programs with other institutions throughout the state
• Placement of graduates of doctor of medicine and residency training programs
Please feel free to contact me at (414) 456-8217 if you have any questions or would like additional information.
Sincerely,
donna K. gissen
Vice President, Planning and Government Affairs
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
December 20, 2005
The Honorable, The Legislature:
We have completed an evaluation of the Volunteer Fire Fighter and Emergency Medical Technician Service Award Program, a retirement benefit program for local emergency services departments that rely on volunteer staff. The program, which is commonly known as the length-of-service award program, is funded by local governments and general purpose revenue. On September 1, 2005, when 5,388 eligible volunteers were enrolled by 182 participating emergency service departments, the program had assets of $10.3 million, including $6.3 million in contributions by municipalities and $4.0 million in state matching funds. Through December 2004, 68 participating volunteers or their beneficiaries had received a total of $255,200 in program benefits.
An eight-member board appointed by the Governor and attached to the Department of Administration (DOA) is responsible for general program oversight, including selecting vendors and reviewing he investment of options available to local emergency services departments. It contracts with private vendors for account administration. When vendors were selected in 2001, neither the appropriateness of various investment options nor their costs appear to have been fully understood, and the importance of investment portability was not sufficiently recognized. As a result, three participating departments forfeited a total of $119,000 in premiums paid for nontransferable life insurance policies when the board did not extend one vendor's contract in 2004. Another vendor charges considerable transfer fees for certain investments, which could be costly for some participating departments and may limit the board's contracting alternatives in the future.
The board is preparing to begin a new vendor-selection process because current contracts expire in 2006. Given the range and complexity of improvements needed, our report includes recommendations for the board to obtain independent financial expertise before it begins its new request-for-proposals process. In addition, we recommend more detailed reporting on the program's status to the Legislature.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by the board, DOA staff, program administrators, interest groups, and local officials and volunteers with whom we spoke. DOA's response follows the appendix.
Sincerely,
Janice mueller
State Auditor
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
December 22, 2005
The Honorable, The Legislature:
As requested, we have performed a preliminary review of the Department of Revenue's (DOR's) administration of the sales and use taxes levied by 58 counties and 2 professional sports districts on the same goods and services that are subject to the State's 5.0 percent sales and use tax. In 2005, DOR expects to distribute more than $306 million to the local units of government that levy these taxes.
The Integrated Tax System (ITS) DOR implemented in December 2002 is used to process sales and use taxes and to calculate the counties' and districts' shares of reported sales and use taxes. DOR has faced many challenges in implementing ITS, including and initial processing backlog, various programming errors, and incorrect calculations. In 2003 and 2005, two major adjustments were made to recoup funds from counties that had been overpaid and to distribute additional funds to those that had been underpaid. In this review, we identified a new concern related to processing certain audit adjustments and other transactions that resulted in additional overpayments.
DOR has negotiated with the vendor that developed ITS for a limited amount of service to be provided at no additional cost to the State, including further system testing that is expected to be completed by March 31, 2006, after completion of a review of various system assurances that should have been, but were not, included in the original system design, the vendor is also expected to provide additional computer programming services.
To correct for the new error we identified and for other errors that have yet been corrected, DOR calculates that 33 counties are owed a total of 1.8 million, which it plans to pay along with sales and use tax distributions for December 2005. DOR also calculates that 25 counties and the tow professional sports districts were overpaid a total of $2.8 million. We believe it would be prudent to proceed cautiously on any overpayment collections until ITS testing is completed and confidence in he system can be assured. We recommend the Joint Legislative Audit Committee monitor efforts in this area and direct DOR to provide monthly status reports.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by DOR staff during our review.
Sincerely,
Janice MUEller
State Auditor
__________________
The committee on Health, Children, Families, Aging and Long Term Care reports and recommends:
Senate Bill 405
Relating to: powers of the Pharmacy Examining Board during times of emergency or disaster.
Introduction and adoption of Senate Amendment 1.
Ayes, 5 - Senators
Roessler, Darling, Brown, Erpenbach and Carpenter.
Noes, 0 - None.
Passage as amended.
Ayes, 5 - Senators
Roessler, Darling, Brown, Erpenbach and Carpenter.
Noes, 0 - None.
Carol Roessler
Chairperson
S514
The committee on
Judiciary, Corrections and Privacy reports and recommends:
Senate Bill 450
Relating to: construction liens, requirements for securing payment for work on publicly financed projects, and providing a penalty.
Passage.
Ayes, 3 - Senators
Zien, Roessler and Grothman.
Noes, 2 - Senators
Taylor and Risser.
David Zien
Chairperson
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Department of Health and Family Services
December 16, 2005
The Honorable, The Legislature:
Section
46.03(26) of the statutes requires the Department of Health and Family Services to report annually on information systems projects under development including the implementation schedule, estimate of costs, and methods of determining changes (if applicable).
The Department has two groups of systems now under development: Public Health Information Network (PHIN) and Health Alert Network (HAN) / National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS); and the Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) and related subsystems. The required information is included in the attached reports.
Sincerely,
HELENE NELSON
Secretary
State of Wisconsin
Department of Health and Family Services
December 16, 2005
The Honorable, The Legislature:
Enclosed is the 2004/2005 annual report of the Wisconsin Council on Physical Disabilities. Preparation and distribution of the report is required by section 46.29(1)(f) of the state statutes.
Enhancing employment and housing opportunities and strengthening transportation and health services for people with disabilities are important goals for Wisconsin. Funding fragmentation, disjointed service delivery, lack of incentives to save and work, and a weak information distribution network serve as barriers to these goals. The Wisconsin Council on Physical Disabilities made progress in addressing a number of these barriers this past year and plans to work aggressively in the balance of FY06 to achieve improvements in housing, transportation, long-term support, and emergency preparedness. All of these efforts are resulting in change, collaboration and positive outcomes for Wisconsin's citizens with physical disabilities.
If you have questions about the report, please contact Sarah Lincoln at 608/266-7974.
Sincerely,
HELENE NELSON
Secretary
State of Wisconsin
Department of Health and Family Services
December 23, 2005
The Honorable, The Legislature:
This letter provides a report on the status of hunger prevention strategies in Wisconsin, as required by s.46.76(4) and (5). I am pleased to report that, under the leadership of the Department and the UW-Extension, in 2005 the Wisconsin Food Security Consortium has been re-activated and once again begun meeting on a monthly basis to develop a coordinated approach to address the problems of hunger and food insecurity in Wisconsin. The Consortium is a partnership of government, business, community and university representatives who serve in an advisory capacity to DHFS. Prior to this year, the Consortium had been inactive since 2002. The Department expects that the expertise of the Consortium will be of great benefit to Wisconsin in devising strategies to deal with the problems of hunger and food insecurity.
The Consortium is guided by the definition of food security proposed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which defines food security as the ability of an entire population to have physical and economic access to sufficient food to meet its dietary needs for a productive and healthy life. Compared to other states, Wisconsin has a relatively low rate of food insecurity, but the problem is growing. In 1999-2001, 8.4% of the population was food insecure and that number increased to 9% in 2002-04. Food insecurity is clearly linked to income and efforts to improve the income level of Wisconsin citizens will benefit the state in many ways. However, the extent of food insecurity is the result of many factors besides income levels. The reduction of hunger in Wisconsin requires a cooperative partnership of federal, state, community, business, university, and individual resources.
Recognizing that creating food secure communities for people in Wisconsin goes beyond providing access to emergency food through food pantries, the Consortium is seeking to establish ways to increase access to food through normal channels. This undertaking involves the coordination and best use of existing resources, including federal food programs, supplemental food programs, food production and marketing, education and public awareness, community infrastructure, economic and job security, and research and evaluation.
In the coming year the Consortium will focus on developing a state plan to combat hunger and food insecurity in Wisconsin. The Consortium is reviewing plans completed by other states and will be examining programs that have worked in Wisconsin and in other areas of the country. One of the tasks which the Consortium has undertaken is to improve the coordination of services among the different parties that have an interest in reducing food insecurity in Wisconsin.
The Consortium is also working to increase participation by local communities. There are approximately 30 local Hunger Prevention Task Forces. The Consortium needs participation from local communities to be successful and it is pursuing ways that information can be shared between the Consortium and local organizations. Among other activities, the Consortium will be exploring ways to increase outreach regarding hunger prevention programs so that all Wisconsin residents are aware of what is available to them.
The Department, with the assistance of the Food Security Consortium, will continue to work with our partners in the public and private sector to develop strategies on this critical issue of improving food security in Wisconsin.
Sincerely,
HELENE NELSON
Secretary
Department of Revenue
