Roughly eight months after former Rep. Sue Cahill (D-Marshalltown) requested an Auditor of the State investigation of the Iowa Veterans Home (IVH), the audit has been completed.

Cahill made the request in August, one month after IVH employees protested a restructuring plan which included the layoffs of 11 activities department employees and reducing four full-time positions to part-time. In a letter to Auditor Rob Sand, she wrote there was no need for the reduction of staff after the state increased funding by $1 million.

Because of Cahill’s request, the auditor’s report indicated additional attention was given to payroll and remodeling costs at IVH. The auditor’s office had no recommendations based off of the investigation results.

The report included the average number of residents and staff and daily and annual cost of providing care for an IVH resident from 2023 to 2019.

In 2023, there were 390 residents and 700 employees. The daily cost of care was $527.40 and an annual cost of $192,503, a 2 percent increase from 2022.

In 2022, there were 399 residents and it cost $516.41 per day to care for a resident, which is $11 less than 2023, for a total of $188,491, $4,012 less than 2023. There were also 754 employees.

During 2021, there were 846 staff members and 427 residents, with a daily cost of $501.34 and an annual cost of $182,990.

In 2020, 855 people were employed at IVH and 488 residents lived there, with a daily cost of $436.63 and an annual cost of $159,370.

During 2019, there were 866 staff members and 498 residents, a daily cost of $405.31 and an annual cost of $147,938.

The report also provided an unaudited list of $75,076,021 of IVH expenditures in 2023. Personal services totaled $52,573,059; $113,433 was spent on travel; $5,916,692, supplies and materials; $15,179,401, contractual services; $1,029,545, capital outlay; $260,945, claims and miscellaneous expenses and; $2,946, licenses, permits and refunds.