The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issues a favorable opinion with exceptions on the operations related to disbursements, the payment of debts to governmental entities, and some controls and procedures of the Municipality of Culebra.
The Report reveals delays of $72,339 in the payment of the debt to the Treasury Department for income tax withheld as of January 2012. This amount includes penalties and surcharges of $29,784. The Municipality also paid $26,861 to the Internal Revenue Service for deficiencies and delays in sending the remittances of the withholdings. These situations affect the entities to whom money is owed and reduce the economic resources of the people of Culebra.
The four-finding audit points out that the Mayor, two municipal legislators, five officials, five secretaries, a municipal advisor, and the spouses of the Mayor, the Municipal Secretary, and the municipal advisor took a trip to Saint Thomas on the occasion of Administrative Professionals Day in 2014. Our auditors detected that the trip consisted of a tour to have breakfast, lunch, and go shopping. The Municipality disbursed $1,838 without receiving any service in exchange from the employees and officials.
The Municipality paid $7,325 in fines to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of Puerto Rico (OSHA) and to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These violations in the operation of the Vegetative Materials Collection Center could have caused injuries to the employees, and the noncompliance with the Clean Water Act could have caused damage to the environment.
The acting Finance directors did not adequately supervise the operations of the pre-audit and issuance of payments since none of the vouchers included the receipt of the goods acquired, payments were authorized without the requisition sheet, and half of the suppliers examined were not listed in the Single Registry of Bidders of the General Services Administration.
The Report notes that, as of June 30, 2015, the Municipality had not established the provisions in its last three budgets to cover the operational costs of closing the landfill whose useful life expired in 2013. The noncompliance with the federal regulations on solid waste has had the effect that the Municipality has obtained an adverse opinion in the single audits from 2012 to 2014. In addition, the Municipality has still not recovered $67,196 that was recommended in audit M-14-55 of 2014.
The Report covers the period from March 1, 2013 to June 30, 2015.
See Audit Report M-17-37
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