Nearly 50 high-risk issues found during audits of City of Richmond departments have not been fixed by their target date, City Auditor Riad Ali wrote in a new report.

Ali’s Nov. 20 report provides an update on open audit recommendations for various city departments, including the 137 that were unresolved as of June 14 and 25 new ones issued from mid-June through Oct. 24. 

Of those 162 total recommendations, 130 remained open as of Oct. 24 — and 124 were overdue for addressing. This includes 46 that city auditors consider high-priority issues that could pose significant risks to local functions in the departments of finance and procurement services. 

Problems within Richmond City Hall — from meals tax irregularities that drew fierce criticism from restaurant owners to weak oversight over the city’s purchasing card program — have led to what’s now years of increased public scrutiny and questions. 

Mayor Danny Avula campaigned on making City Hall more efficient and improving services, but 27 of the 46 open high-priority recommendations have come under his administration. 

A spokesperson for Avula did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the report’s open recommendations outlined. In a statement after Ali’s report was released, the mayor touted the city’s progress on closing 31 recommendations, including eight that were high priority. 

“From day one, I said we would look for it, find it and fix it,” Avula said. “Every audit issue we resolve means better service for Richmonders and a more responsive, reliable government.” 

City Hall leadership has changed significantly during Avula’s tenure, including new Chief Administrative Officer Odie Donald and three new top administrators for the city’s finance, operations and human services portfolios. The mayor has also called for changes to Richmond’s purchasing card program. 

The Department of Finance has the most open recommendations with 28, followed by the Department of Public Utilities with 19 and the Department of Procurement Services with 15. 

All 28 of the finance department’s unresolved recommendations are past their target deadline, according to the report, seven of which are high priority. 

One recommended change to address a high risk that was expected to be done by Dec. 1, 2021 — during then-Mayor Levar Stoney’s second term — calls for a formal policy to ensure “the enforcement of delinquent real estate taxes is equitably applied to owner-occupied and non-owner occupied properties.” 

Additionally, Richmond’s finance director has not refunded “erroneously assessed (by the system) interests on individual personal property tax bills from 6/7/2022 to 8/7/2022,” the report reads. 

Auditors also recommended that the finance director come up with a plan to timely restore meals tax accounts by June 30, 2024, but Ali’s report said that has not yet been developed. 

The finance department has had a significant leadership shakeup under Avula. In July, Sheila White resigned as the department’s director and was ultimately replaced by Letitia Shelton. 

One of DPU’s resolved high-priority recommendations — made prior to January’s regional water crisis — called for the department to develop and implement a process to make sure its inventory is accurate. 

Another closed recommendation comes from an audit that the Richmond Retirement System paid out more than $550,000 to 44 deceased retirees over nine years. The system has since set a structured collection process to identify potential overpayments to dead retirees, per Ali’s report. 

Days after the audit recommendation update, Ali’s office released two new audits on the city’s real estate tax rebate process and warehouse inventory management. 

Errors were identified in the first batch of real estate tax rebate checks sent to taxpayers in March, leading the city to stop mailing checks to conduct a new calculation. Jamie Atkinson, the city’s former revenue director who oversaw the rebate program, resigned after the errors were uncovered. 

On Tuesday, the city announced the hiring of a new director of revenue administration, closing that monthslong vacancy.