According to a recent audit by the State Auditors of Public Accounts, the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) needs to improve its internal controls across multiple areas. The audit, which examined fiscal years 2019 and 2020, highlighted several issues, including discrepancies in recording and pursuing late emissions fees, improper verification of contractor hours and invoices, and inadequate authorization and disposal of equipment.
Verifying Contract Invoices
The audit revealed that the DMV spent $43,020,998 on non-payroll services during the audited period, with $3,000,491 of these expenditures reviewed. Notably, in 2019 and 2020, the DMV prepaid $327,560 for IT support services but failed to verify the contractor’s actual hours. Subsequently, the department sought a summary of hours worked after the initial audit inquiry.
Two significant discrepancies, amounting to $504,200, were identified where invoice amounts did not match the amounts on the “product schedule.” In one instance, a change of vendors led to an unsupported increase of $212,626. The audit noted the DMV’s failure to use certain Core-CT functions to upload supporting documents like invoices effectively.
Recording and Disposing of Late Fees
In 2021, the DMV removed 379,882 late emissions fee accounts without necessary support. The report emphasized that the DMV should bolster internal controls over processing, collecting, writing off, and reporting emissions fees. The department has been suspending late fees for emissions since 2015, a practice still ongoing as of 2020. According to their response, the DMV has started recording emission late fees since the audit’s publication.
Authorizing Equipment Disposals
The audit also scrutinized 20 randomly selected equipment disposal forms out of 263 during the audited period, finding that 11 forms totaling $508,571 lacked the required authorization signatures or had incorrect dates. Total equipment disposals reported by the DMV were $729,742 and $893,301 for fiscal years 2019 and 2020, respectively. The audit suggested inadequate staff training as a potential reason for these discrepancies.
The department also tracks firearm registrations but does not classify them under “controllable property.” The auditors concluded that improved internal control is essential.
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By Jack Beckett
