Rayville Paid Florida-based Company for Supplies It Never Received; May Have Paid Too Much for Others

Officials in the Richland Parish town of Rayville paid a Florida-based company for fire department supplies it never received, while on other occasions excessive amounts may have been paid for items actually delivered, according to an investigative audit released Monday by Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera.

The state auditor’s report said the town paid at least $102,315 to Global Chemicals, Inc. for items that were either (1) never received or (2) charged excessive amounts above market value for. At the time of LLA’s audit, the town didn’t have written policies and procedures for purchasing; however, Mayor Harry Lewis wrote in his response to LLA that the town has already put procedures in place to keep this from occurring in the future.

“From October 27, 2011 to August 23, 2013, the Town issued 22 payments to Global totaling $128,947 for materials and supplies for the fire department,” auditors wrote. “The Town could only provide two purchase orders totaling $1,699, and none of the invoices included any type of written approval or authorization from (Fire) Chief (Gary) Miller. In addition, the Town could provide no records to indicate that any bids or quotes were obtained.”

The town’s former accounts payable clerk said she paid a majority of the Global invoices without purchase orders and without authorization from Chief Miller but began to question him when the invoices began increasing in dollar amount. The total cost of items paid for but not received by the town totaled $60,345.

Additionally, auditors noted that a majority of the items received from Global were firefighting foam, Water Wetter, and other miscellaneous cleaning products at a cost to the town of $63,530. “We compared these amounts to prices advertised by online retailers and found that the unit prices for the same or similar products ranged between $18.99 and $36 per gallon,” the audit said. “Based on these quotes, the Town may have paid as much as $41,970 in excess of market value for these products.”

In his response to the findings, Global Chemicals President William Hardy argued, “Poor record keeping and poor maintenance records or administration should not be passed on to a vendor who has no control or say so within any city, village or town. The young lady gave us instructions to FAX orders in to her and at no time was a “Purchase Order” ever mentioned.”