The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issues a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of the Municipality of Naranjito. A qualified opinion is issued when the noncompliances individually or together are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that the Municipality did not obligate the budgetary appropriations to pay 10 contracts and 20 amendments for $4 million when they were awarded, but rather 407 days after the contracts and amendments were formalized. This situation prevents effective control of the budgetary items and fosters overdrafts. A similar situation had been noted in Audit Report M-16-04.
The Municipality filled four positions with persons who did not meet the minimum requirements of the Classification and Compensation Plan of the Career Service. These persons appointed as Emergency Medical technicians did not have the chauffeur 4 license, nor the license to operate ambulances. One of them did not have the license from the Examining Board of Emergency Medical Technicians and performed paramedic functions and interacted with patients. In this regard, the Report recommends that the Examining Board of Emergency Medical Technicians consider this situation and take the appropriate measures.
The eight-finding audit notes that the reconciliation of the Current account reflected a difference in funds from prior years of half a million dollars, 86 bank reconciliations did not have the signature of the director of Finance, and a perpetual inventory of the checks of the bank accounts was not kept.
Our auditors identified that the Municipality granted donations to entities that did not submit their financial statements, the certificates of incorporation to the Department of State, or the purpose and organization of the entity. From 2013 to 2015 Naranjito had granted donations for $308,000. In addition, the director of Finance authorized 558 transfers of credits between budgetary items for $3.2 million with surplus certifications that lacked information as provided by the Regulation for Municipal Administration.
The theft of seven property units valued at $29,264 was notified to the Office of the Comptroller up to two years after the event, contrary to the regulations in effect. In addition, in October 2014, 126 unusable property units were disposed of without the director of Finance preparing a certification on the truthfulness of the unusable property and that it could not be sold. A similar situation had been commented on in Audit Report M-16-04.
The Municipality maintained a balance of 63 special funds with economic resources of $2.5 million inactive for more than 10 years. In addition, it had $104,525 in five bank accounts inactive for more than 3 years. The Naranjito officials could not explain the reason for the inactivity of funds or the efforts made to reprogram and use the funds.
The Report covers the period from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2017.
See Audit Report M-19-08.
To see other published reports, visit our Audit Reports section.
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