City of Beaumont Audit - General Fund Bank Statements

I requested from the City of Beaumont all of their Bank Accounts from 07/01/2010 to Present. I received only one – the General Fund Bank Statement. From these documents I found the following irregularities:

ONE BANK ACCOUNT – TWO CHECK BOOKS:

The City of Beaumont has two (2) checking accounts running through their General Fund Check Register, but only Ratifying one set of checks through Council. The checks Ratified by Council and shown with the Agenda are a five digit range: '81143'. But the General Fund Bank Statement shows that another set of checks with a six digit range: '521143' are also run through the General Fund.

For the Year End 2011 the hidden checks totaled $320,180.57; FYE 2012 they totaled $432,697.80. From 07/01/12 – 10/31/12 $156,617.50 has been issued from the 2^nd checking account.

There are at least two dozen checks issued monthly from the 2^nd account. Most of the checks amounts are repeated. Several of the amounts are for '$21.31' – which looks like a life insurance premium. Other repeated check amounts range from '$690.00' to '$1,902.93'. Other checks are issued randomly from small dollar amounts to several thousands. The largest check was # 511288 paid on 07/09/12 for $23,467.41.

CBUSOL TRANSFERS AND CASH DEPOSITS

The City of Beaumont has stated that there are only two (2) checking accounts: the General Fund and the Payroll Account. But the General Fund Check Register shows transfers of money with the detail notation: 'WIRE TO CITY OF BEAUMONT'.

On 08/27/10 a transfer of $7,945,683.25 was made. This dropped the balance of the General Fund from $11.5 million to $3,5 million. On 12/22/10 the General Fund drops below $600,000, and a $1,000,000 cash deposit is made.

On 01/19/11 the General Fund went in the red when 'Los Angeles Engineering' cashed a check for $556,795.00. The Bank Account closed <$ 164,000.00>.

01/20/11 a $2 Million deposit was made.

I found a total of 17 wire transfers shifting large sums of money in and out of the General Fund. The most recent was 08/28/12 when $8,357.859.22 was wired through a SBUSOL Transfer to 'The City of Beaumont'.

VISA CARD ENDING 3423

There is an VISA card being paid through 'ACH DEBIT' instead of issuing a check to pay this expense. FYE 2011charges total $397,042.98. FYE 2012 total $253,397.44. From July through October charges are $113,548.31.

CASH WITHDRAWALS

In the last two years there have been 25 entries totaling $20,274.59 listed only as 'WITHDRAWAL'. The withdrawals started small; in the year 2011 there were a dozen withdrawals totaling $2,358.22. From January through October 2012 there have been 12 withdrawals for amounts ranging $780.00 to $2,000 and totaling $17,881.00. No one should have authorization to make cash withdrawals from government funds.