Nebraska

The Omaha Tribe’s serious financial management weaknesses combined with inadequate and missing documentation resulted in unreliable financial records. As a result, we have little confidence that the transactions recorded in the accounting system actually occurred or that the tribe completed its FEMA-authorized projects. Therefore, we question $13.9 million as unsupported. Due to the unreliable financial information, we calculated the amount unsupported as the entire $16.9 million FEMA provided for both grants, less $2.8 million in unused Federal funding that FEMA should put to better use; $165,000 in unclaimed insurance coverage; and approximately $74,749 that we were able to verify as supported and eligible.

We determined that the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) generally accounted for disaster costs on a project-by-project basis and adequately supported costs it claimed.  However, OPPD overstated the fringe benefit rate it applied to its labor costs on three large projects. We recommended that FEMA disallow $67,570 in ineligible costs and instruct Nebraska to ensure that OPPD calculates and applies its fringe benefit rate according to Federal cost principles and FEMA guidelines for all future disasters.  FEMA concurred with all three of our recommendations.