CAPE CORAL, FL – An audit of Cape Coral’s fuel management recommended a more comprehensive approach to monitoring the fuel used by City vehicles. The audit did not find any evidence of fraud, illegal acts, or abuse. The audit reviewed acquisition, disbursement, and management of fuel from 2006 to 2010.

The audit came about because the City conducted an internal review of its fuel use in the fall of 2010 and found it was unable to accurately track how much fuel was used or purchased during a period of serveral years.

Citing the City’s fuel management system (FMS) software as being antiquated and limited, the report showed with a general lack of record-keeping or review of records as the primary problems during this period. The audit recommends the City make a number of changes. The software system used doesn’t have vendor support (due to the City's previous decision to do without the support offered by the vendor), and the integrity of the database storing fuel-related data is “suspect,” according to the audit.

The audit also noted that recently the City implemented a number of policies to improve fuel management. Examples include internal controls to monitor fuel purchases; improvement to software application security, developing comprehensive a City Administration Regulation to address fuel use in City vehicles and equipment; upgrading the FMS software; providing monthly reports to the City Manager regarding fuel purchases and how costs are allocated to user departments; and creating a new FMS database to better track future fuel-related data. 

The audit recommended the City acquire an enterprise-level fleet management system that provides fuel-management capabilities rather than continue solely with fuel-management software.

You can read the PDF of the full audit here.

By Greg Basich