Oct. 9, 2006 — An agency charged with beautifying the territory derailed partly because its money got sent off track, according to a new audit.
The audit, conducted by the V.I. Inspector General's office, reviewed the finances of the defunct Anti-Litter and Beautification Commission, an agency that focused on recycling. According to the audit, the Public Works Department and the Legislature used some of the commission's money for unrelated work. That work included appropriations for firefighting, Carnival events, and school library books, according to Senate President Lorraine Berry.
The fund was established by the Legislature when it passed the Anti-Litter and Beautification Act of 1990 as a way to clean up the territory. The money in the fund came from a tax paid by wholesalers on beverages sold in bottles and cans. The agency operated under the Public Works umbrella, with its recycling programs stopping and starting several times throughout its history for various reasons.
The commission gasped its last in 2004 when the members discovered that the Legislature had, unbeknownst to them, tapped its money for other purposes. This forced the agency to stop all of its programs, including payment to residents for aluminum cans, glass bottles and other materials intended for recycling. That program had developed into a cottage industry for some residents, with people showing up at recycling centers hauling truckloads of recyclables.
The Anti-Litter and Beautification Commission funding and programs were subsequently absorbed by the V.I. Waste Management Authority, with the process finalized in May.
The audit showed that Public Works used money for roadside cleanups. Additionally, in 2002, $4.4 million of the agency's funds went to pay for court-ordered wastewater repairs and maintenance.
The auditors indicate that officials looked only at the large amount of money in the fund at a given time, but did not take into account future financial needs of the Anti-Litter and Beautification Commission programs.
A letter included in the audit from Berry indicates that between 1999 and 2004 the Legislature appropriated $8 million from the fund for a used-oil recycling program and the major wastewater repairs and maintenance.
Additionally, Berry wrote, the Legislature appropriated $360,000 to hire six firemen and purchase a truck for St. Croix, $1.4 million for Carnival events on St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix, and $122,000 for library books, a fence and electronic items at two St. Thomas schools.
The audit also found other problems. The commission did not have control over draw downs and disbursements from the Anti-Litter and Beautification Fund, it did not maintain complete accounting records, it did not routinely reconcile accounting records with the government's official records maintained by the Finance Department, it failed to submit annual financial statements to the Legislature and the governor as required by law and it did not always adequately monitor the work performed by grant recipients and contractors.
The auditors attributed these problems to several factors. In addition to the money used by Public Works to pay for roadside cleanup and the extensive appropriations from the fund by the Legislature to pay for unrelated activities, the agency also had inconsistent revenue and fund balance reporting practices and failed to monitor services provided by grant recipients and contractors.
As a result of these problems, the fund was $198,573 in the red in 2004, the commission did not receive timely and full funding allotments, the commission closed or postponed all of its programs in the 2004 fiscal year, the commission did not always have accurate and timely financial information at its disposal to properly administer the program funds, the commission relinquished some administrative and accounting control over a grant it had awarded to a private organization and the commission made $175,000 in payments to a contractor for work that had not been verified in accordance with the terms of the contract.
The Inspector General's office initiated the audit at the request of the former members of the St. Thomas-St. John Anti-Litter and Beautification Commission. The audit covers the years 2003 and 2004, but auditors looked at earlier records, as well.
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