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Wayne County arts authority asks auditors to explain bus reimbursement variances
Summary
After reviewing DIA’s 2025 service‑agreement report, authority members singled out wide differences in sampled bus subsidies and asked auditors (Plante Moran) and DIA staff for transaction‑level backup on large reimbursements before a special meeting to sign the service agreement.
Board members raised concerns about the range of bus subsidies included in the auditor’s sample and asked DIA staff to provide clearer transaction‑level backup and ask auditors to explain outliers.
During the review of Plant(e) Moran’s draft testing, a board member pointed to sampled reimbursements of roughly $256 on one item and $1,400 on another and said the report lacked sufficient detail to reconcile the difference. The member asked for documentation showing how many students and how many buses each line item represented so the board could assess whether the amounts were reasonable.
DIA staff responded that the auditors validated the sampled backup during testing but conceded that the narrative descriptions in the packet could be more complete. The presenter agreed to supply itemized descriptions for the sampled transactions and to request that Plante Moran provide a direct explanation for any outliers identified in their testing.
Board members discussed procurement and operational reasons for multiple vendors (volume of school trips, scheduling constraints) and whether a different contracting approach could reduce variance; staff defended current practice, citing capacity, scheduling and the differing needs of senior versus school groups.
The board instructed staff to obtain the additional supporting materials and auditor explanations in advance of the special meeting on April 29 so members can review the audit samples and supporting documents before signing the management‑representation letter and finalizing the service agreement.
What’s next: DIA staff will prepare item‑level backup for the bus subsidies sampled by Plante Moran and ask the auditors to provide a written explanation of how they validated the sampled transactions. The authority expects those materials in advance of its April 29 special meeting.
