Audit of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources - Green Communities Division

This is a Massachusetts State Auditor performance audit of the Department of Energy Resources' Green Communities Division, covering July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2020.

“This report details the audit objectives, scope, methodology, findings, and recommendations for the audit period, July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2020.”

Auditors checked whether cities and towns qualified for green community status, whether they kept filing required annual reports, and whether grant money was used as intended.

“In this performance audit, we determined whether GCD ensured that municipalities applying for green community designation met all of the required criteria, whether municipalities that were designated as green communities submitted their required annual reports, and whether grant funding distributed through DOER’s Green Communities Designation and Grant Program was used for its intended purposes.”

If towns do not submit annual reports, the state cannot be sure they still meet green community requirements, and the Legislature may receive incomplete or wrong information.

“Further, since DOER uses the information in these municipal reports to produce its annual report for the state Legislature, the information in DOER’s annual report may be incomplete and inaccurate.”

This affects residents because the program is meant to help communities cut energy use, lower energy costs, and support clean energy projects.

“GCD was created by the Green Communities Act (Chapter 169 of the Acts of 2008) to help municipalities become more sustainable in terms of their energy needs, control rising energy costs, and facilitate the use of clean energy technologies (e.g., solar).”

The biggest problems were missing required annual reports and $46,471 in grant spending that was not properly justified with documentation.

“During our audit period, GCD did not obtain documentation to justify $46,471 of administrative expenses for which 8 of the 21 green communities in our sample requested reimbursement through the Green Communities Designation and Grant Program.”

The auditor recommended stronger monitoring, and the department said it would notify communities that miss reports and require better documentation before paying administrative grant costs.

“Based on its response, DOER is taking measures to address our concerns on this matter.”

This was not a finding that the whole program failed; the audit found that applications were properly supported, but ongoing reporting and some grant documentation needed better controls.

“Based on the results of our data reliability assessment, we determined that the information obtained for our audit period was sufficiently reliable for the purposes of our audit work.”

A “green community” is a city or town that meets state criteria related to clean energy, energy savings, efficient vehicles, and energy-conscious construction rules.

“To be designated as a green community, a city or town must apply to DOER to be designated as such and demonstrate that it has done the following:”