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City auditor: parks audit shows no material findings but flags payroll and gift-card record-keeping issues
Summary
City Auditor Patrice Randall told the audit and finance committee the parks safety audit found no material deficiencies but the data analysis flagged miscalculated termination payments, missing gift cards and widespread personal-holiday overpayments; auditors will follow up with the police department on 429 unaccounted cards.
Patrice Randall, the city auditor, told the audit and finance committee that a recently completed park safety and maintenance audit contained no material findings but identified gaps in written procedures and several data exceptions.
“We concluded that the park and rec department's process for identifying and mitigating risks was adequate, but we did, however, identify a need for written standard operating policies and procedures,” Randall said.
Randall also presented a data-analysis update for the first and second quarters of the fiscal year. She said auditors found no duplicate vendor payments and no employee-to-vendor matches, and that wire transfers were adequately documented. At the same time, the audit team found errors in employee termination payments: 4 of 15 sampled termination payments were calculated incorrectly (two overpayments and two underpayments), Randall said.
The audit flagged problems with gift-card inventories. Randall said neighborhood services could account for all but nine gift cards valued at $100 each and immediately drafted written procedures; by contrast, the police department could not account for 429 gift cards valued at $50 each. Randall said auditors will return to the police department within one to two weeks to try to account for those cards.
On paid personal holidays, Randall said the city allows two paid personal holidays but auditors found 35 of 52 sampled employees exceeded that allowance, resulting mainly in overpayments. She suggested management consider setting personal holidays as an eight-hour day or configuring them as an absence in the timekeeping system so the system limits eligible hours.
Committee members thanked Randall for the update and asked clarifying questions about gift-card use; Randall said the gift cards are used for community programs.
