OIG-CA-26-003: Determination on Corrective Actions for Desk Review of City of Phoenix (December 2, 2025)

Summary

Letter of December 2, 2025 (OIG-CA-26-003) from Pauletta Battle, Acting Assistant Inspector General for Audit at the Treasury Office of Inspector General, to Kathleen Gitkin, Chief Financial Officer of the City of Phoenix, giving the final determination on corrective actions for the desk review of Phoenix’s use of Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) proceeds (OIG-CA-23-032). The desk review, done by an independent public accounting firm, questioned $147,379.46 of unsupported costs in the ‘grants greater than or equal to $50,000’ category: $136,314 of administrative costs for a grant program and an $11,065.46 discrepancy between Phoenix’s Cycle 5 GrantSolutions submission and its sub-recipient’s general ledger. In April 2024 Phoenix provided adequate supporting documentation for the $147,379.46, so its corrective actions addressed the questioned costs.

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                                          DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
                                                 W ASHINGTON, D.C. 20220




     OFFICE OF
INSPECTOR GENERAL
                                                  December 2, 2025


           OIG-CA-26-003

           Ms. Kathleen Gitkin
           Chief Financial Officer
           City of Phoenix
           251 W Washington St, 9th Floor
           Phoenix, AZ 85003

           Re: Final Determination on Corrective Actions for Desk Review of City of Phoenix,
           Arizona’s Use of Coronavirus Relief Fund Proceeds (OIG-CA-23-032)

           Dear Ms. Gitkin:

           The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), 1 established
           the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) and appropriated $150 billion for making
           payments to states, District of Columbia, local, territorial, and tribal governments
           entities. CRF recipients may use the CRF award funds to cover costs that:

                1. were necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency
                   with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19);
                2. were not accounted for in the government’s budget most recently approved
                   as of March 27, 2020; and
                3. were incurred during the period that began on March 1, 2020, and ended on
                   December 31, 2021, for states, local governments, and territories. In the
                   case of tribal governments, were incurred during the period that began on
                   March 1, 2020, and ended on December 31, 2022 (covered period).

           Under a contract monitored by our office, a certified independent public accounting
           firm (IPA) performed a desk review to evaluate the City of Phoenix’s (Phoenix)
           documentation supporting its use of CRF proceeds as reported in the
           GrantSolutions 2 portal. In the desk review memorandum, 3 the IPA identified total
           unsupported questioned costs of $147,379.46 within the “grants greater than or
           equal to $50,000” category. The IPA determined that Phoenix used the CRF
           proceeds for administrative costs related to a grant program. This included
           unsupported administrative costs of $136,314 and a discrepancy of $11,065.46
           between the total amount of cumulative expenditures reported by Phoenix in its
           1
               P.L. 116-136 (March 27, 2020)
           2
               GrantSolutions, a grant and program management Federal shared service provider under the
               United States Department of Health and Human Services, developed a customized and user-
               friendly reporting solution to capture the use of CRF payments from prime recipients.
           3
               Treasury OIG, Desk Review of the City of Phoenix, Arizona’s Use of Coronavirus Relief Fund
               Proceeds, OIG-CA-23-032 (July 21, 2023)
Page 2

Cycle 5 (April 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021) GrantSolutions submission and the total
amount in its sub-recipient’s general ledger detail.

In February 2024, we contacted Phoenix requesting the city to provide supporting
documentation for the questioned costs. In April 2024, Phoenix provided adequate
supporting documentation for the $147,379.46 questioned costs. As such,
Phoenix’s corrective actions addressed the questioned costs identified in the desk
review.

We appreciate the courtesies and cooperation provided to our staff during the desk
review follow-up. If you have any questions or require further information, please
contact me at (202) 927-5792, or a member of your staff may contact Olivia
Scott, Acting Audit Director, at (202) 927-9635.


Sincerely,

/s/

Pauletta Battle
Acting Assistant Inspector General for Audit


cc:      Michelle A. Dickerman, Deputy Assistant General Counsel, Department of
           the Treasury
         Danielle Christensen, Deputy Chief Program Officer for State and Local
          Programs, Office of Capital Access, Department of the Treasury
         Jeffery W. Stout, Acting Chief Program Officer, Office of Capital Access,
           Department of the Treasury
         Thao P. Tran, Acting Chief Operating Officer, Department of the Treasury
         Joe Jatzkewitz, Assistant Finance Director/City Treasurer, City of Phoenix,
           Arizona


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