Audits find overcharges at workforce-housing site, SWA controls gaps and municipal benefit-payment errors

Hillary Beaujean, director of audit for the Palm Beach County Inspector General's Office, presented three audits completed during the six-month period and outlined additional audits in progress.

Her audit of Wellington Club Apartments, part of the county's workforce-housing program, found the property manager overcharged renters the audit tested for a total exceeding $30,000 between 2018 and 2023. The county identified some overcharges and issued credits, reducing the outstanding overpayments to approximately $22,000. "The county's monitoring of the program was not sufficient to identify that those renters had been overcharged," Beaujean said; the county accepted or partially accepted all but one recommendation from the audit.

The audit of the Solid Waste Authority (SWA) examined tipping-fee revenue and cash intake processes and found several weaknesses: accounts-receivable reconciliations that did not always reconcile variances or were not timely, inconsistent write-offs of delinquent accounts (ranging from four to 31 months), and lapses in documentation for management review of certain credit accounts. Management concurred with the recommendations in that audit.

A separate audit of the town of Jupiter Inlet Colony reviewed insurance benefits and a former mayor and commissioner's travel and purchasing-card expenses. The audit found the town improperly paid insurance premiums for a former mayor in violation of its charter and identified insufficient documentation for many credit-card purchases and travel expenditures. The town accepted the recommendations, which included recouping more than $30,000 and strengthening controls over insurance, travel and credit-card processes.

Beaujean said 10 audits are currently in process and described a risk-based "global area" approach adopted in the current audit plan to provide broader coverage and flexibility in selecting entities for review. Committee members asked for confirmation that clean audits are posted; Beaujean said completed audits produce a formal report even when no findings are identified.