The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of the Municipality of Orocovis. A qualified opinion is issued when noncompliances, individually or together, are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that 149 credit transfers were submitted to the Municipal Legislature up to six months later, contrary to the five days stipulated in Act 81-1991 on Autonomous Municipalities. A similar situation had been commented on in Audit Report M-16-35 of June 2, 2016.
In addition, the Municipality approved 14 resolutions of $2,445,087 to readjust the general budget in fiscal years 2015 to 2018, with certifications that only included the excess of income. This situation does not allow adequate control of the balances in the items and in the budgetary funds.
The six-finding audit notes that the auxiliary collector did not sign 44 final closing reports for $5,847,101, nor did the official collector sign them as proof of having verified them. This situation leads to the commission of irregularities with the municipal funds.
The Municipality created an Insurance Proposal Evaluation Committee composed of the municipal secretary and the directors of Human Resources and Finance. However, the Committee did not comply with its responsibility in the acquisition of 12 municipal property insurance policies from 2016 to 2018, since no evidence was found of the proposals or of the analysis conducted in the selection. In addition, the Committee approved a regulation that was never submitted to the mayor for his approval.
The auditors found that the acting property custodians did not conduct the annual physical inventories of the movable property from 2015 to 2017. In addition, the inventory of the movable property that should have been prepared by the custodian who ceased his functions on August 14, 2015 was not found for examination.
Contrary to the applicable regulations, the Municipality had not approved rules or written procedures for the receipt, preservation, and disposal of documents. In addition, the active file did not have humidity control equipment and the inactive one lacked fire alarms.
The audit indicates that, as of December 31, 2017, the Daily Report of Classification and Balance of Funds reflected 13 special funds with economic resources of $126,081 inactive for more than two and a half years. The officials could not offer an explanation about the reasons for the inactivity of funds, nor the efforts made to reprogram and use them.
The Report comments that, as of December 31, 2017, the Municipality had 135 employees classified as temporary for up to 29 years. Temporary appointments, except for exceptions, should not exceed the one-year term established by law.
The audit recommends to the director of the Office of Management and Budget to ensure that the Municipality complies with the Corrective Action Plan established by the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico.
This first report on Orocovis covers the period from July 1, 2015 to December 31, 2017.
See Audit Report M-21-09.
To see other published reports, visit our Audit Reports section.
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