Montgomery County officials improperly approved more than $1.2 million in construction, snow removal and maintenance work that lacked time sheets, documentation of expenses or any justification for the payments, according to a new report released by the suburb’s top watchdog. Tito Contractors Inc., which was paid more than $14.2 million between fiscal 2005 and 2009, erroneously filed the 172 invoices reviewed by Inspector General Thomas Dagley from fiscal 2007 and 2008.
“We were unable to determine whether the labor and undetermined costs [charged by Tito] were valid,” Dagley said in a memo to David Dise, director of the Department of General Services, which approved the invoices.
“Additional tests of other Tito and contractor invoices that were approved in [fiscal] 2009 and 2010 and the first six months of FY 2011 are needed.”
Of 172 invoices tested by county investigators, 104 lacked documentation for labor costs totaling $533,000, 166 failed to detail $233,000 of material expenses, and six invoices totaling $685,000 provided no explanation of the work performed.
The report is another example of lacking oversight of county contracts, and concerned officials said similar problems were likely going undetected.
“What we’ve been able to discover is that some departments simply didn’t have fiscal monitoring abilities,” said Montgomery County Councilwoman Nancy Navarro, D-Eastern County. “At this time, we really can’t afford to have these types of gaps. It’s really critical that we fix this.”
Dise said Tito is no longer under contract with the county but that he did not know whether the decision was related to the audit. He said the department also added a position to review the invoices before issuing payments.
“This is an issue that concerned me,” Dise told The Washington Examiner. “We need to go back and look at all the contracts to ensure that it’s not a problem.”
Tito officials did not return calls for comment. According to its Web site, the company is a minority-owned firm specializing in general contracting and construction management, whose clients have included the FBI, D.C. Public Schools and George Mason University.
