The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion of the fiscal operations of the Municipality of Yabucoa. A qualified opinion is issued when the individual or aggregate noncompliances are significant, but not pervasive.
The Report reveals a lack of adequate control over the property donated by the Defense Logistics Agency to the Municipality, since 20 property units out of a total of 108 were not located; among these, nine military trucks, three wagons and trailer tanks, three forklifts and two electricity generators. In addition, the property custodian did not assign any value to 20 property units contrary to current regulation. The Defense Logistics Agency is a federal agency that coordinates the transfer of property previously used by the Department of Defense.
The audit notes that the Municipality invested $226,249 in the construction of a baseball park that has not been carried out. On the land acquired for such purposes only an earthmoving had been performed that was exposed to landslides due to runoff. This situation is attributed to the fact that they began the project without having the money, with the expectation that they would receive funds from the Municipal Improvements Fund, which did not occur.
The Comptroller's auditors identified purchase orders recorded after the services were rendered and invoiced, contrary to the Regulation for Municipal Administration of 2016. In addition, 17 disbursement vouchers for $580,607 related to payments for the purchase of equipment, repair of structures, festivals and telephone and communications expenses, among others, were not found. A similar situation had been commented on in Audit Report M-19-20 of December 13, 2018.
The Report comments that Yabucoa had accumulated deficits in the Operational Fund of $7,273,689 in 2017, $6,486,443 in 2018 and $6,484,596 in 2019. These amounts constitute practically 50% of the total budget deficit.
61% of the Municipality's employees had been classified as transitory for up to more than two years. The appointments of transitory positions should not exceed one year, except for exceptions set by law. A similar situation had been commented on in Audit Report M-16-25 of April 18, 2016.
The Municipality had not addressed the recommendations of previous audit reports on the recovery of $71,566. These recoveries were for concepts of salary overpayments to an official, a charge on the credit card without presenting supporting documents, or construction excise taxes not collected from contractors, among others.
As of June 30, 2019, the Municipality had six civil lawsuits for $495,540 for damages, accident and collection of money.
The report on Yabucoa covers the period from April 1, 2017 to June 30, 2019.
See Audit Report M-21-29.
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