County Bioterror Spending To Be Audited
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a motion calling for an audit of the county Department of Health Services' spending of federal grants for bioterrorism preparedness, the Los Angeles Times reports. A Times review on Monday found at least $2 million in expenditures "of questionable relevance" to bioterror preparedness.
The county received $83 million for bioterrorism preparations in 2004, of which $14 million was unspent, and received an additional $27.9 million for the current grant year that began last summer.
Under the motion, the county auditor-controller will review the spending and report to the board within 30 days. The motion also directs the chief administrative officer to prepare guidelines for using grant funds.
CDC spokesperson Von Roebuck said the agency plans to visit Los Angeles County soon to review its bioterror preparedness program, but he added that the site visit is not in response to the Times' review.
County DHS Director Jonathan Fielding said that he welcomes the audit and that he recently had requested an internal audit to verify compliance with federal guidelines (Ornstein, Los Angeles Times, 3/8).