CHARLESTON, WV –
The Legislative Auditor today released their report on the audit of the RISE WV
Program. The report concluded that “the Legislative Auditor questions whether
any individual homeowner has received full assistance from the Rise West
Virginia flood recovery program.”
The Legislative Auditor got it wrong. The Justice
Administration stands by the numbers released Friday by the National Guard,
which show that out of the 451 cases in the program, 324 have been reviewed,
and 106 assigned. As of today, eighteen families have been handed keys to new
homes, and five are ready for final inspection this week.
On Friday, Governor’s staff offered updated information to a
representative from the Legislative Auditor’s office. Evidently, he chose not
to use the updated information and instead published the report with old information
from before General Hoyer took over. General Hoyer has also offered to let a
member of the Legislative Auditor’s office share office space with the RISE
program, to ensure they are getting the most accurate information, but they
have not agreed to do so.
The report does get several things right. Numerous illegal
contracts were entered into by the West Virginia Development Office, and the
RISE program was mismanaged from the beginning. These facts verify why the
Justice Administration had to step in and clean up the program. Now that
General Hoyer is overseeing RISE, progress is being made quickly and families
are being taken care of.
Hoyer said, “I am confident that the numbers my staff have
generated and provided to the Governor’s office are accurate. Families are
being helped, and the process is moving quickly. We wait to put out information
publicly until the entire case process is complete because we don’t want to
cause confusion.”
On Tuesday at 9 a.m., he will give an update on RISE to the Joint
Legislative Committee on Flooding.