The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of the Municipality of Cataño. 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 disbursed $934,895 with no benefit in 2015, for engineering services, in the projected construction of 119 housing units in the Palmas de Cataño neighborhood for elderly persons. The project was not built since the Municipality was not selected in the first round in a competitive process for funds from the Housing Finance Authority through tax credits and funds from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The then-mayor decided not to participate in a second round.
The six-finding audit points out that the Municipality paid in 2015 a fine of $13,332 from the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture for failing to comply with Act 223-2004 on Puerto Rican Music. This law establishes a fair and reasonable participation of native Puerto Rican music in the patron saint festivals or any other musical event.
Contrary to the law and regulations in effect, the mayor appointed in January 2017 a Special Assistant at $2,646 without having completed a bachelor's degree. In addition, the appointed municipal secretary did not have the required bachelor's degree in Business Administration but rather in Arts, and the director of Public Works did not have a bachelor's degree in Engineering but rather in Environmental Sciences. Both received monthly salaries of $3,572 and $3,969 respectively. This situation has the effect that the actions and decisions made by them in the exercise of their functions could be objected to the detriment of the Municipality. A similar situation had been commented on in Audit Report M-17-10 of 2016.
The Report indicates that the Municipality failed to send the monthly payroll and position reports to the Office of the Comptroller from July 2015 to December 2018. In addition, from 2016 to 2018, they reported, with delays of up to more than two years, the disappearance of 44 property units and an accident with an inventory value of $262,158.
The auditors detected that 69% of the records of each motor vehicle were incomplete, and that they did not maintain a physical and perpetual inventory of the materials, parts, and supplies stored in the warehouse. Nor did the Municipality prepare requisitions for the issuance of these.
The audit comments that, as of September 30, 2020, the Municipality had 10 civil lawsuits for $2,318,447 pending resolution by the Courts, and three administrative cases pending before the Appeals Commission of the Human Resources Administration System of the Public Service. In addition, Cataño maintained 191 employees appointed to transitory positions for up to 14 years after their appointment, contrary to Act 81-1991 on Autonomous Municipalities.
The Report recommends that the Office of Management and Budget ensure that the Municipality complies with the Corrective Action Plan established by the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico.
The Cataño audit covers the period from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2018.
See Audit Report M-21-27.
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