The Comptroller of Puerto Rico issues a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations related to the management and control of the operational budget, the acquisition of services, the contracting of professional and consulting services, the construction of permanent works and improvements, among others, of the Municipality of Barranquitas. A qualified opinion is issued when the instances of noncompliance, individually or in the aggregate, are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that the Municipality granted four contracts and six amendments for surveying, engineering, and architecture services, for which it disbursed $151,200 to an unlicensed architect and to a corporation not authorized to carry out such services. These situations were notified on August 25, 2017 to the Secretary of Justice, to the College of Engineers and Surveyors and its Examining Board, and to the College of Architects and Landscape Architects and its Examining Board, so that they would take the corresponding actions.
The 11-finding audit notes that the Municipality paid $23,000 for plans for the construction of a water park that was not built. In addition, works totaling $7.4 million were carried out without the endorsements or public liability policies required before their construction, and related documents such as inspection evidence, final plans, or certifications were not found for examination.
Our auditors identified deficiencies with the bank reconciliations. In addition, the Municipality kept seven bank accounts with balances of $188,298 inactive for up to 11 years and 108 special funds with resources of $1.4 million inactive for up to almost 22 years. Similar situations had already been pointed out in Audit Report M-14-43 of 2014.
The operation of the La Hermandad Geriatric Center lacked a regulation for the collection and administration of donations, had no collection committee and fiscal procedure, employees made collections without an appointment for this function, and the perpetual inventories of the food warehouses were not reliable. These situations may facilitate the commission of irregularities and the loss of food and materials.
The audit evidences that the archive and the area designated to preserve public documents was disorganized, with a lot of humidity, mold, lack of ventilation, and without smoke detectors, among other deficiencies (see photos in Exhibit 1). In addition, the municipal files of the lawsuits against the Municipality or filed by it lacked important documents or were incomplete.
The Report comments that on June 7, 2016, the case of compensation granted to an employee who was already receiving a pension from the Retirement System was referred to the Executive Director of the Office of Government Ethics and to the administrator of the Retirement Systems. In addition, as of June 30, 2016, nine civil lawsuits totaling $8.9 million were pending resolution by the courts.
The Report covers the period from January 1, 2012 to June 30, 2016.
See Audit Report M-18-24.
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