During 2006, the Department of Environmental Conservation consumed 1.7 million gallons of vehicle fuel valued at $4.4 million. We examined these fuel transactions and found the Department does not have sufficient controls to ensure all fuel expenditures are appropriate. Department managers have not: enforced certain controls over card usage; implemented controls to establish accountability over fuel cards; or used transaction data to monitor card use. As a result, there were several red flags suggesting the cards may have been used for personal use, including charges on one card assigned to a vehicle that received more fuel than the vehicle’s capacity and 30 percent of the vehicles we examined getting at least five less miles-per-gallon than the industry standard.
For a complete copy of Report 2006-BSE-11-006 click here.