The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion of the fiscal operations of the Municipality of Juncos. A qualified opinion is issued when the noncompliance, individually or as a whole, is significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that the quotations requested for 20% of the purchase orders evaluated were requested by unauthorized Municipality officials. From 2017 to 2021, the Municipality issued 15,888 purchase orders for the acquisition of goods and services totaling $91,414,352. In the Municipality, the purchasing agents are the officials empowered by regulation to carry out the purchasing procedure.
The two-finding audit notes that the invoices of two contractors who provided information systems maintenance services for $30,000 and educational services for $45,000 between 2020 and 2021 did not have detailed and specific information on the hours and work performed. This situation, contrary to the contractual clauses, makes it difficult to verify the correctness of the disbursement.
The Municipality of Juncos disbursed $193,724 for the payment of lawsuits for the wrongful dismissal of four police officers, and for damages from three other lawsuits. Because of this situation, the Municipality made a payment for which it received no benefit in return, and at the same time, the resources the Municipality has to provide services to citizens were affected.
As of December 31, 2021, ten civil lawsuits were pending resolution by the courts for $1,947,886. In addition, as of that date, the Municipality had not recovered the amount of $17,241 for various items identified in the findings published in the 2013 and 2015 audit reports.
The Report recommends that the Office of Management and Budget ensure that the Municipality of Juncos complies with the Corrective Action Plan established by the Office of the Comptroller. This second and final report of Juncos covers the period from July 1, 2017, to December 31, 2021.
See Audit Report M-23-34.
To see other published reports, visit our Audit Reports section.
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