Palm Beach County Crime & Public Safety Update: Audit finds Palm Beach County paid $900K early in PBSO headquarters renovation

What happened: Palm Beach County paid more than $900,000 for work on the sheriff’s headquarters renovation before county commissioners formally approved the change orders, according to a new inspector general report.

Background: The report says the payments for subcontractor work were made between six and 355 business days before approval. The County later approved the change orders before the audit report was issued.

The county agrees the payments were made too early but disputes the inspector general’s classification of the $903,387.75 as “questioned costs.” The inspector general says the payments still violated contract and county policy requirements. That includes $2,527.65 in general construction costs the county could not fully support with documentation and $220,715.65 in insurance, bonding and risk mitigation charges the inspector general said exceeded contract terms or lacked support.

The county disagrees with the inspector general’s method for evaluating insurance and bond charges. In its response, the county said its preliminary review found a net overpayment of $124,477.75 and that it planned to deduct that amount from the contractor’s final payment.

It said it could deduct more if the contractor does not provide documentation for additional charges. The report made seven recommendations to strengthen documentation and approval procedures.

The county accepted six and rejected a recommendation that the contractor certify that payment requests include only work covered by the original contract or approved change orders.

The available details are limited to the information verified at publication time. Readers should expect updates as the matter develops.

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Source: official sources including CBS12 News.