Audit of the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office

This is a state performance audit of the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office covering July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2018.

“I am pleased to provide this performance audit of the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office.”

Auditors looked at whether non-payroll spending made sense, whether contracts followed rules, and whether overtime was properly overseen.

“In this performance audit, we examined WCSO’s activities related to the appropriateness of its non-payroll expenses, its process for contracting for goods and services, and its oversight of staff overtime.”

The office runs the county jail and house of correction, so its spending and oversight affect a major public safety institution.

“WCSO is responsible for operating the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction in West Boylston.”

If you live in Massachusetts, this matters because public money funds the office, and the audit checked whether sampled spending and overtime were supported.

“For its operations, WCSO stated that it expended $50,426,658 in fiscal year 2017 and $51,170,969 in fiscal year 2018 from its state maintenance appropriation.”

The audit answered yes to all three main questions: expenses were mission-related, overtime was documented and approved, and contracts followed office policy.

“Did WCSO administer its contracting process for goods and services in accordance with its policies?”

The report does not list required corrective actions; it says the audit did not find significant reportable noncompliance.

“Our audit revealed no significant instances of noncompliance by WCSO that must be reported under generally accepted government auditing standards.”

This is a clean audit result for the areas reviewed, but it is limited to the stated audit period and objectives.

“Below is a list of our audit objectives, indicating each question we intended our audit to answer and the conclusion we reached regarding each objective.”