County Mental Health Agency May Be Audited

State officials said that they will recommend an audit of the Los Angeles County Mental Health Department because of reports that the department has requested funds for programs that may be shut down.

Officials from the state auditor general’s office said Thursday that an outside review of the department is needed because previous internal audits have failed to answer questions about discrepancies in the department’s budget.

The problems were disclosed earlier this year when it was discovered that state funds had been sought for programs the department wanted to end. Mental health department officials said they were forced to keep the programs open by a court order blocking the closure of eight county health clinics, but state authorities say the court order apparently didn’t cover all of the programs. The audit request must be approved by the Legislature’s Audit Committee next month.