The Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of Comerío. A qualified opinion is issued when the noncompliance, individually or in the aggregate, is significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that the Municipality formalized six professional services contracts for $65,386, without the municipal secretary or the contractor presenting evidence of the licenses, credentials, or authorizations validating her professional knowledge and experience. In addition, contrary to the Regulation for Municipal Administration of 2016, payments were issued in advance and one of the vouchers did not include the contractor's invoice. These situations could have affected the quality of the services and there was no certainty that they were rendered in accordance with the laws governing the profession with respect to work on the underground fuel storage tanks at the Municipal Public Works shop.
The five-finding audit notes that the Municipality awarded two contracts and three amendments for $84,010 to a contractor for electrical repairs without establishing the work or service locations. In addition, the contractor did not present in the invoices the required estimates or the Municipality's authorization to perform said work. Contrary to the regulations in effect, said invoices for $59,510 were certified as correct by the mayor's secretary or the municipal administrator instead of by the director of the Office of Project Management.
The Report indicates that from 2017 to 2019, Comerío submitted the Monthly Report of Payrolls and Positions to the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico (OCPR) up to six months later, and the contracts and amendments up to three months later to the Registry of Contracts. These situations deprived the public of updated information and prevented the documents from being accessible to citizens.
Contrary to Act 81-1991, the Autonomous Municipalities Act and the applicable personnel regulations, 5.5 days of time off were granted to municipal officials and employees, without charge to accrued leave and without the prior approval of the Municipal Legislature. In addition, the auditors of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico could not determine the payroll expenses paid for the time granted.
The Report comments that, as of February 11, 2020, five civil lawsuits for $1,720,000 were pending resolution by the courts and one case before the Public Service Appellate Commission.
The audit recommends that the Office of Management and Budget ensure that the Municipality complies with the Corrective Action Plan established by the OCPR.
The Comerío report covers the period from July 1, 2017 to December 31, 2019.
See Audit Report M-22-18.
To see other published reports, visit our Audit Reports section.
Some documents on this page are saved in PDF format.
To view these documents, you must have the following free program installed.
