The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of the Municipality of Luquillo. 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 contracted, for $98,580, a company for services of design of plans, supervision, and technical evaluation of construction projects, whose president and resident agent did not have the required license as an architect. In addition, for the period evaluated, the Municipality contracted, for $113,675, an engineer in training, without the required license to perform inspection and advisory services on construction projects.
These situations, contrary to the laws and regulations in force, were referred on October 28, 2019 to the then Secretary of Justice, the president of the Association of Architects and Landscape Architects of Puerto Rico, and the president of the Association of Engineers and Land Surveyors of Puerto Rico, so that they would take the corresponding actions. As of the date of this Report, the situations were pending investigation.
The four-finding audit notes that the Municipality registered budgetary obligations for 16 invoices totaling $1,011,950, up to five months after the company invoiced the services. The Regulation for Municipal Administration of 2016 provides that appropriations must be encumbered before making purchases, and the Finance director must certify the availability of funds. This situation makes it difficult to maintain effective control and can foster overdrafts in the budgetary line items.
Contrary to the laws and regulations in force, the Municipality registered with the Office of the Comptroller 371 contracts and 186 amendments totaling $4,597,693 with delays of up to one year. This situation prevented the contracts from being accessible to citizens as public documents within the required time.
The auditors found that the mayor did not refer for the consideration of the Municipal Legislature the settlement agreement for $103,125 of a civil lawsuit for unjustified dismissal of five temporary employees. The Autonomous Municipalities Act 81-1991 provides that in judicial settlements greater than $25,000 the mayor must obtain the consent of the Legislature.
The audit comments that, as of June 30, 2018, the Municipality had 12 civil lawsuits pending resolution for $3,036,034. In addition, five employee cases were pending resolution before the Public Service Appellate Commission.
This second and final report on Luquillo covers the period from January 1, 2014 to June 30, 2018.
See Audit Report M-21-02.
To view other published reports, visit our Audit Reports section.
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