(a) Counties shall annually audit any public or private contractors with whom they have agreements and who expend $300,000 or more in funds to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Act, the requirements of this Chapter, and the county terms and conditions under which the SATTF funds were awarded. Counties may, at their discretion, conduct such audits, contract for the performance of such audits, or require the public or private contractors to obtain such audits.

(b) The audit shall be conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards as described in “Government Auditing Standards (1994 Revision)”, published for the United States General Accounting Office by the Comptroller General of the United States.

(c) The annual audit shall be completed and the county shall submit a written audit report to the Department within 30 days of completion of the audit but no later than nine months after the end of each state fiscal year ending June 30th.

(d) The written audit report shall establish whether the contractor expended SATTF funds in accordance with the provisions of the Act, the requirements of this Chapter, and the county terms and conditions under which the funds were awarded.

(e) When a county audit finds that a public or private contractor has misspent SATTF funds based on the requirements of Section 9530, the county shall demand repayment from the contractor in the amount of such audit findings and shall deposit the recovered funds into the county's trust fund established pursuant to Section 9517. Such recovery of funds shall be reported to the Department on the “Annual Financial Status Report, Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000” (Form 10096, Rev. 10/01), which is hereby incorporated by reference, and the specific amount recovered shall be identified in the “Comments/Remarks” line on the same report. The county shall maintain an audit trail to identify the specific audit periods for which recoveries are reported.

(f) The county shall establish a process to resolve disputed findings resulting from its own audit of public or private contractors.

(g) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this regulation, any public or private contractor who is required to obtain a single audit pursuant to OMB Circular A-133 and who receives funding under the Act, shall ensure that the single audit addresses compliance with the requirements of the Act. The county may rely on the single audit as fulfilling its responsibilities in Section 9545(a).

(h) Audit work papers supporting the report shall be retained for a period of five years from the issuance of the audit report and the county shall make such work papers available to the Department upon request.