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Audit finds Cook County ARPA "Investing in Families and Youth" monitoring adequate, notes three observations
Summary
The Office of the County Auditor told the Cook County Audit Committee the ARPA-funded Investing in Families and Youth program (NT900) was monitored adequately for 11/01/2022'''''11/30/2024, but auditors recorded three observations involving late attestations, missing automated risk reassessment, and a 51% advancement exceeding a 50% limit.
The Cook County Audit Committee received an Office of the County Auditor review on Jan. 14, 2026 concluding that monitoring of American Rescue Plan Act funds for the Investing in Families and Youth program (NT900) was adequate and that program funds were used as intended, Auditor Heath Wolf said.
"Based upon our review, we concluded that the monitoring process over the utilization of ARPA funds was adequate and program funds were used as intended," Heath Wolf said. The audit covered the reporting period from Nov. 1, 2022, through Nov. 30, 2024.
The auditor presented three observations. First, supervisor time-tracking attestation forms for staff were submitted late by the Bureau of Economic Development; the auditor noted that the bureau's practices were "more robust than the county's requirements," but that the late submissions represented a technical deviation. Second, the county's DBMS (grants management system) did not automatically trigger a required risk reassessment following a contract amendment. Third, DBMS approved an advancement that exceeded the 50% of the recorded fiscal year budget threshold (the advancement was recorded at 51%).
The auditor said the management comments provided by the Bureau of Economic Development were included in the final report. "The Bureau of Economic Development did provide management comments which are included in their entirety in the final report," Wolf said. He also noted that DBMS did not provide management comments.
County Budget Director Karakoshi Damasaward, appearing remotely, told commissioners the budget office "is in agreement with what has been reported" and that staff did not feel additional comments were necessary at this time.
Commissioners asked follow-up questions about the 1-percentage-point exceedance of the 50% advancement limit and about why DBMS did not submit management comments; Wolf said the exceedance was a narrow technical variance and that he did not recall why DBMS did not respond with comments to the draft.
Commissioner Anaya moved to receive and file the auditor's report on item 26-1134 (ARPA: Investing in Families and Youth, NT900); Commissioner Britton seconded. The committee approved the motion in a roll-call vote (13 ayes, 4 absent: Aguilar, Gaynor, Moore, Scott). The chair declared the ayes have it.
The report was received and filed; the audit record shows the office will continue to monitor corrective actions and management responses where applicable.
Next steps noted in committee discussion included coordinating with DBMS and the Bureau of Economic Development to ensure risk-assessment triggers and advancement controls are applied consistently; no additional county-wide policy change was adopted at the meeting.
