Audit Report: City Has Weak Spending Control

By Nancy Wride

Long Beach City Auditor Laura Doud announced Wednesday the first of four audits of the city's fuel costs, finding a lack of systemic controls over spending of about $5.6 million a year by some 2,000 users.

The focus of the first audit was the city's largest fuel use, overseen by the Fleet Services Bureau in the Financial Management Department.

Budget cutbacks were the cause of the weak spending controls, the city management told Doud, according to her news announcement of her findings. And the city management is already working toward improvements based on her ongoing audits.

"One of the key findings in this first audit is a lack of controls within the fuel expenditures system," Doud's report stated. "The Department of Financial Management agrees with this finding, noting that significant reductions in staff due to budget cuts from previous years led to the lack of controls.  Financial Management staff further indicated the department has already begun reviewing issues raised in the audit.

"The City of Long Beach spends over $5.6 million annually for fuel such as gasoline, diesel, CNG, LNG, etc., with more than over 2,000 users within the City’s fuel systems. The City currently uses three different fueling systems to monitor usage."

Patch will bring you more on this story soon.

Here's another story about a Doud audit of Parks and Rec in spring, 20012. http://belmontshore.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/audit-parks-rec-lost-or-misappropriate...