Annual State of Ohio single audit details $45 billion in spending through 371 federally funded programs
COLUMBUS — Auditors identified 18 findings and questioned costs totaling nearly $6.8 million among seven state agencies that administered federally funded programs in fiscal year 2025, according to an annual audit of spending released by Auditor of State Keith Faber.
The 2025 State of Ohio Single Audit, required under federal law to ensure federal funds allocated to the state are being spent appropriately, included multiple issues involving public benefits program payments for ineligible recipients, Auditor Faber said.
The audit details financial activities from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. The full report is available online at ohioauditor.gov/auditsearch/search.aspx.
For the fiscal year, the state administered 371 federal programs from 24 federal agencies, with total spending of $45 billion, an increase of $1.26 billion in total assistance from the previous fiscal year.
The total included $32.6 billion from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, $28.5 billion of which went to Ohio’s Medicaid programs, providing medical care and services for lower-income residents, older adults, individuals with disabilities, pregnant women, infants and children, and others.
Another $4.8 billion came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, mostly for assistance related to food and nutrition programs.
The total number of findings (18) was down from 19 in fiscal years 2024 and 2023; 24 in fiscal year 2022; 25 in fiscal year 2021; and 38 in fiscal year 2020.
Questioned costs included more than $6.5 million in summer food assistance provided to students who were not eligible for the benefits based on their age.
The audit included additional questioned costs in Medicaid programming related to eligibility, including payments made for services for residents who had died, resulting in an error rate of about 15.6% in the tested samples.
If the same parameters existed across the entire population of residents receiving Medicaid-funded services, that would mean between $800 million and $4.4 billion in potential unallowable costs, Auditor Faber said.
Auditors also noted that 16.9 million alerts were sent to county Job and Family Services workers to review and process for public benefits programs. Auditors wrote, “The volume of incoming alerts/matches being sent to county caseworkers results in an increased workload and ineffective application of the alert process.”
The 2025 State Single Audit also included two findings for recovery:
A total of $50,000 against the owner of two companies who received fraudulent payments through the Ohio Department of Development’s TechCred program, which provides reimbursements for certain employee training costs.
$6,862.33 against an employee for a state-supported residential school for people with developmental disabilities, who was paid for the same working hours by two employers.