Uncoordinated purchasing of supplies throughout Westmoreland County government might be costing taxpayers money they shouldn't have to spend, according to an audit released Thursday by Controller Carmen Pedicone.
Pedicone stopped short of putting a price tag on the potential losses. But he said purchasing policies provide no assurances the county's buying power is properly accessed.
"In a lot of instances they may be getting the best price, but we don't know," Pedicone said.
The audit, which looked at the performance of the purchasing department in 2005, found that department heads throughout the county bought supplies on their own rather than using the centralized office at the courthouse.
Auditors found redundancy and uncoordinated purchasing because in many cases the central department was bypassed.
Pedicone said the county commissioners should direct that all county buying pass through the central department.
"I think that the process could be tightened up. We want to give our purchasing officer more controls," Pedicone said.
County commissioners Tom Balya, Tom Ceraso and Phil Light declined to comment yesterday on the audit's findings, but in a formal written response included with Pedicone's findings, they said the purchasing office does coordinate "high dollar value items."
"The commissioners are always looking for ways to improve county operations and ensure the best value for county funds, and in this regard we appreciate the efforts of your office," their official response read.
That response, though, was in contrast to the commissioners' reaction to audit findings, released last month, that criticized the county's computer tracking system. The commissioners took Pedicone to task for critical comments he made about oversight of computer equipment.
Commissioners also threatened Pedicone with staff reductions if he continued to conduct performance audits of county departments.
Pedicone said as of yesterday, he received no similar threats in response to the purchasing department survey, which was also characterized as a performance audit.
"We'll continue to look at any process we think has a high financial impact on the county," Pedicone said.
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