County program had 10-year supply of gift cards. Review says 3 months is the right number.

A review of Stanislaus County’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Services’ gift card program found that it had stockpiled several years worth of cards without an apparent need, that 256 cards worth $1,330 were missing, and concluded BHRS needs to strengthen its oversight of the program.

The county’s Auditor-Controller’s office presented the results of its review at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors’ meeting.

Auditors were at BHRS in 2015 to review the gift card program and completed their work in December 2016. This was the first time the Audit-Controller’s office has reviewed a gift card program, and it intends to review other county departments’ use of the cards, said Cara Kiely, the office’s internal audit manager.

The review’s executive summary states that while BHRS had been developing policies and procedures for several years, that work had not been completed and department staff had not been told how to safeguard the cards. The summary said the lack of policies and procedures contributed to such problems as the significant number of missing cards, insufficient tracking and monitoring of cards, missing and incomplete records regarding cards given to clients, and large inventories of cards.

“The auditor’s report recommends some specific actions, which we are in the process of implementing,” said BHRS Director Rick DeGette, who assumed leadership of the department in September. “And we are working very closely with the auditor’s office to get a better handle on monitoring the use of the incentive-gift cards. We have many programs that use these cards so we are working with them to ensure compliance.”

Auditors looked at BHRS’ General Services-Facilities Division and its Family Partnership Center. General Services-Facilities orders, safeguards, tracks and issues the cards to BHRS programs, including the Family Partnership Center. The gift cards are primarily for use at McDonald’s, Starbucks and similar businesses but include ones for movies or bowling.

The executive summary says they are given to clients as “motivational incentive tools to enhance treatment, facilitate recovery, and encourage community and peer participation.” BHRS’ website says it provides mental health services to adults and children as well as alcohol and drug treatment and prevention services. The cards also at times are given to employees as safety incentives, though the audit recommends BHRS establish policies for that purpose.

The Auditor-Controller’s office review came after BHRS had conducted its own review that raised red flags.

BHRS reviewed 16 of its programs that use gift cards and found that its Family Partnership Center had the most — 4,126 cards, worth about $22,408, even though from 2008 through 2014 the center used about 400 cards per year, according to the executive summary. That’s about a 10-year supply. The center transferred about half of the cards to the General Services-Facilities Division before the Audit-Controller review was conducted.

The review recommended the Family Partnership Center keep a three-month supply of cards, and BHRS says the center is now doing that, according to the executive summary. The 256 missing gift cards had been issued to the center in 2010, 2012 and 2013. “It is unknown at this time what happened to the missing cards, and whether they were used as a County business purpose,” according to the executive summary.

The summary said BHRS reported that it has put in place procedures to reduce the risk of cards going missing, and all Family Partnership Center gift cards were accounted for during the department’s last audit in November.

The Audit-Controller’s office has started a review of two other BHRS programs that use gift cards and will follow up with BHRS to see that the recommendations from the first review are being implemented, according to Keily, the office’s internal audit manager.

This story was originally published July 1, 2017 at 4:16 PM with the headline "County program had 10-year supply of gift cards. Review says 3 months is the right number.."