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Louisiana Legislative Auditor

Louisiana Legislative Auditor. Using Data to Evaluate and Improve Performance. Gina Brown, Performance Audit Manager Melissa Barbato, Senior Performance Auditor 2. October 3, 2013. Data is a Management Tool. Using data as a management tool is key to improving programs.

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Louisiana Legislative Auditor

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  1. Louisiana Legislative Auditor Using Data to Evaluate and Improve Performance Gina Brown, Performance Audit Manager Melissa Barbato, Senior Performance Auditor 2 October 3, 2013

  2. Data is a Management Tool Using data as a management tool is key to improving programs “You can have data without information, but you cannot have information without data.” Sources: Daniel Keys Moran (BrainyQuote.com)

  3. What Do We Do With Data? • A few of our examples: • Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Public Health – Regulation of Food Safety in Retail Food Establishments • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Department of Children and Family Services • Louisiana Tax Commission – Residential Property Tax Assessments Study it, find patterns, make improvements

  4. OPH Retail Food Audit Issued November 2012 Permits, inspections, enforcement

  5. OPH Retail Food Audit: Permits • Critical violations may directly contribute to food contamination or illness • Examples: no water, poor employee hygiene • Non-critical violations are not directly related to the cause of foodborne illness, but if left uncorrected, could become critical • Example: no soap and paper towels in restroom Types of violations:

  6. OPH Retail Food Audit: Permits • OPH issued permits to four (13%) out of 30 restaurants with critical violations • OPH issued permits to 40 (33%) out of 122 restaurants with non-critical violations Pre-opening inspections and permits: Recommendation: Ensure that permits are not issued with uncorrected violations

  7. OPH Retail Food Audit: Inspections Inspections and re-inspections: High-Risk Establishment Inspections Fiscal Years 2009-2011 Source: Prepared by legislative auditor’s staff 81% high-risk establishments not inspected 4x/yr

  8. OPH Retail Food Audit: Inspections • OPH did not conduct 32% of required re-inspections to ensure critical violations were corrected Inspections and re-inspections: Recommendations: • Inspect high-risk establishments in accordance with criteria • Conduct re-inspections timely

  9. OPH Retail Food Audit: Inspections • OPH estimated 3,140 inspections were not uploaded Disclosure of inspection results: www.eatsafe.la.gov • Website did not contain all inspections for restaurants Recommendations: • Ensure that all inspections are uploaded timely • Grade/score restaurants, or post inspection results on-site

  10. OPH Retail Food Audit: Enforcement Violations rarely addressed:

  11. OPH Retail Food Audit: Enforcement • Nearly 450,000 violations statewide, FYs 2009-2011 Violations rarely addressed: • Four compliance orders • Penalties assessed: $1,300 • Penalties collected: $0 • 33% of restaurants statewide had repeat critical violations from FY 2010 to 2011

  12. OPH Retail Food Audit: Enforcement • Improve use of enforcement • Streamline compliance order process • Develop consequences for repeat critical violations • Consider charging a re-inspection fee Recommendations:

  13. SNAP Audit Issued May 2013 Formerly referred to as “food stamps” Federal role vs. state role Topics include participant eligibility and potential fraud

  14. SNAP Audit Data analysis results include: • 84 drug felons - over $100,000 in benefits, FY 11-12 • 1,761 incarcerated participants – approximately $1.1 million in benefits, FY 11-12 • 154 instances, approximately $10,000 - benefits redeemed in Louisiana and a non-neighboring state within the same hour

  15. SNAP Audit Recommendations: • Ensure prison information verification is reliable, consistent, and timely • Enhance use of data analytics and data mining

  16. Data is a Management Tool Using data as a management tool is key to improving programs Sources: Daniel Keys Moran (BrainyQuote.com)

  17. Louisiana Tax Commission (LTC) Audit Report Issued July 2013

  18. LTC: Audit Objective Does LTC’s oversight of parish tax assessors ensure that residential property tax assessments are accurate?

  19. LTC We used data to analyze the following: • Accuracy of assessments • Number assessment changes LTC approved • Property reassessments • Multiple homestead exemptions

  20. LTC • Important Data Fact • For this audit, we used data LTC already had • Why is this important? • We were able to provide quick and easy evaluation methods for LTC to use to improve its oversight of parish tax assessors.

  21. LTC: Accuracy of Assessments Analyzing LTC’s data, we found: • 2,568 (39%) of the 6,551 residential properties in LTC’s most recent Ratio Study were not assessed at 10% of fair market value, as required by the Constitution • Finding: LTC did not follow up with the parish tax assessors on these properties

  22. LTC: Accuracy of Assessments • Also using LTC’s data, we found that properties in the same neighborhood, with similar fair market values, had significant differences in the assessed values of their homes. • This resulted in some homeowners owing significantly more in property taxes than their neighbors.

  23. LTC-Property owner A owes 246% more in property taxes than property owner B Property B Living Area: 2,812 square feet LTC’s Fair Market Value: $562,400 Assessor’s Assessed Value: $23,760 Percent of Fair Market Value: 4.2% 2011 Taxes Due: $2,478.18 2012 Taxes Due: $2,469.72 Property A Living Area: 2,848 square feet LTC’s Fair Market Value: $569,600 Assessor’s Assessed Value: $65,000 Percent of Fair Market Value: 11.4% 2011 Taxes Due: $8,564.37 2012 Taxes Due: $8,534.47

  24. LTC-Property owner C owes 249% more in 2012 property taxes than property owner D Property C Living Area: 1,370 square feet LTC’s Fair Market Value: $209,610 Assessor’s Assessed Value: $20,500 Percent of Fair Market Value: 9.8% 2011 Taxes Due: $1,368.80 2012 Taxes Due: $1,462.25 Property D Living Area: 1,298 square feet LTC’s Fair Market Value: $198,594 Assessor’s Assessed Value: $11,300 Percent of Fair Market Value: 5.7% 2011 Taxes Due: $400.11 2012 Taxes Due: $418.44

  25. LTC: Accuracy of Assessments, Conclusion Using Data to Improve Performance: We analyzed LTC’s data differently from how LTC staff analyzes the data to determine how the oversight of parish tax assessors could be improved.

  26. LTC: Assessment Changes Analyzing LTC’s data we found: • LTC approved over $118 million in assessment decreases for 20,822 businesses and residential properties from calendar years 2010 through 2012 without determining the accuracy of the new assessments.

  27. LTC: Assessment Changes Using Data to Improve Performance:Using this data, LTC should develop a risk-based process to ensure the proposed assessed values submitted by the parish tax assessors on change orders are accurate before making a recommendation to approve or deny the requests.

  28. LTC: Property Reassessments Analyzing parish tax roll data, we found: • 130,212 (21%) of the 620,310 residential properties from the 33 parishes in our sample had the same fair market value in 2012 as in 2007. • Finding: LTC does not ensure that parish tax assessors reappraise residential properties every four years.

  29. LTC: Property ReassessmentsTop 10 Parishes

  30. LTC: Property Reassessments, Conclusion Using Data to Improve Performance: LTC could use information such as this as a starting point to identify and investigate parish assessors that may not be reappraising properties every four years.

  31. LTC: Homestead Exemptions Analyzing parish tax roll data, we identified: • Identified 1,304 instances of individuals with multiple homestead exemptions that added up to more than $7,500 resulting in $207,974 in potential lost tax revenue during calendar years 2011 and 2012. • Louisiana Constitution provides that a resident’s homestead exemption should not be greater than $7,500 of the assessed value or on more than one residence.

  32. LTC: Homestead Exemption, Conclusion • Using Data to Improve Performance:We realized our results were not comprehensive by just using name and address. • As a result, we recommended that LTC determine the feasibility of collecting a unique identifier for tax payers who receive a homestead exemption in order to use data for more comprehensive results.

  33. LTC Overall Conclusion ` Using LTC’s data, we were able to make reasonable recommendations to improve LTC’s oversight of parish tax assessors.

  34. Conclusions Cautions to keep in mind when using data: • It can be difficult and time-consuming to obtain • It may not be reliable • It may not always tell the full story without program context

  35. Discussion Questions • Questions about our three audits? • What are some programs you’d like to evaluate and improve? • How would you start?

  36. Thank You! For these reports (and others), visit www.lla.la.gov

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