Summary

This audit of the Office of the Public Defender, Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, focused primarily on assets, liabilities, fund equities, revenues and cash receipts, expenditures and disbursements, budgetary controls, and management reporting. Matters coming to our attention relating to noncompliance with various guidelines and relating to significant deficiencies in the design or operation of the internal control for those operations audited are as follows:

Contractual Services

For a $40,000 contract requiring a consultant to consult and advise on State funding methods for public defenders, Office of the Public Defender records did not clearly demonstrate the nature and extent of the services provided. Further, although Office management indicated that the consultant never represented the Office before the Legislature, the Office’s Special Administrator (a registered lobbyist for the 1997 legislative session) indicated that the consultant provided advice, assistance, and specific direction to the Special Administrator regarding Office communications with the Legislature relating to funding issues. Under these circumstances, we believe that the Public Defender should seek the advice of the Attorney General as to whether the payments for the consultant services provided represented, contrary to the prohibition of Section 11.062(1), Florida Statutes, the use of State funds for lobbying purposes. (See paragraphs 19 through 23.)

Tangible Personal Property

Chapter 273, Florida Statutes, and Chapter 10.300, Rules of the Auditor General for State-Owned Tangible Personal Property (Rules of the Auditor General), prescribe the control procedures and records for establishing accountability for tangible personal property. Tangible personal property, as defined by Section 273.02, Florida Statutes, includes furniture and equipment of a nonconsumable and nonexpendable nature, the value of which is $500 or more, and the normal expected life of which is one year or more. As of June 30, 1997, the recorded costs of Office of the Public Defender tangible personal property totaled approximately $600,782.

As similarly noted in audit report No. 13029, paragraphs 20 through 24, our audit tests disclosed that the Office of the Public Defender had not taken appropriate actions to dispose of a significant number of stored tangible personal property items that appeared to be eligible for classification as surplus to the needs of the Office. The recorded costs of these items totaled approximately $51,595. Our tests also disclosed two tangible personal property items, whose values totaled $1,598, that were not tagged and recorded in the property records. Additionally, our audit tests disclosed that the recorded costs of two other items were undervalued by $2,842. As a result, Office property records did not properly reflect the costs of the tangible personal property actually used in the conduct of the Office’s assigned responsibilities. (See paragraphs 24 through 26.)

The Public Defender’s written response to the audit findings and recommendations included in audit report No. 13303 is presented as Exhibit D.