PARKING CASH COLLECTIONS AUDIT

Exit Conference Date: March 15, 2017

Release Date: March 15, 2017

Report No. 17-02

City of Orlando Office of Audit Services and Management Support

George J. McGowan, CPA Director

Perez Goree, CPA

Audit Program Manager

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MEMORANDUM OF TRANSMITTAL ................................................................................................. 3

ISSUES, RECOMMENDATIONS AND MANAGEMENT ACTIONS ................................................................ 8

ISSUES AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................... 10

Master meter cash overages are not tracked. .................................................................................................. 10

Additional control needed over parking garage cash collections. ....................................................................... 11

Information technology needed to more efficiently calculate parking occupancy. ............................................. 12

MEMORANDUM OF TRANSMITTAL

To: Scott Zollars, Parking Division Manager From: George J. McGowan, CPA Director, Office of Audit Services and Management Support

Dates: Exit Conference: March 15, 2017 Release: March 15, 2017

Subject: Annual Contract Procurement (Report No. 17-02) The Office of Audit Services and Management Support performed an audit of the processes and controls over the cash collection activities of the City’s Parking Division. The audit objectives were to ensure that controls over cash management were adequate and operating effectively. The Parking Division manages and enforces parking regulations for City garages, parking lots, event parking, freight permits, parking meters and parking tickets.

We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.

The following report contains the issues identified during the audit, recommendations for improvement and management’s replies regarding actions taken/planned to be taken with respect to the identified issues.

We appreciate the cooperation and courtesies extended by the staff of the Parking Division during the course of this audit.

GJM/PG

c: Pamela Corbin, Parking Administration & Planning Manager

Billy Hattaway, Director of Transportation

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SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS, MANAGEMENT RESPONSES AND ACTION PLAN

MANAGEMENT RESPONSE & ACTION PLAN

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ACTION PLAN

TARGET

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1. The Parking Division should begin to track

overages of cash collected from master

meters so that the information can used to

help management gauge the amount of

parking time available versus amount of time

used.

X

Parking can develop a spreadsheet to track the

differences.

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MANAGEMENT RESPONSE & ACTION PLAN

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ACTION PLAN

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2. The Parking Division should install security

cameras in the cash room for each garage

throughout the City to add an extra layer of

security and accountability.

X

The Parking Division is currently in the process of

planning the implementation of cameras in each of

the garage facilities. The camera systems will be

phased in at the rate of one garage per year. Cameras

will be placed in each of the offices during each

facility’s implementation. In addition, the Division is

evaluating the feasibility of electronic safes where

each individual would have a pass code and the

activity could be monitored.

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MANAGEMENT RESPONSE & ACTION PLAN

# RECOMMENDATIONS

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ACTION PLAN

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3. The Parking Division should maximize the use

of information technology to more efficiently

count the vehicles and track parking

occupancy.

X

The use of information technology to efficiently count

the vehicles and track occupancy is currently in the

initial stages. A new Parking Access and Revenue

Control System (PARCS) has been approved for

implementation. This new system will provide real

time counts of vehicles and will track utilization and

occupancy of the garages.

ISSUES, RECOMMENDATIONS AND MANAGEMENT ACTIONS

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ISSUES, RECOMMENDATIONS AND MANAGEMENT ACTIONS

BACKGROUND

The Office of Audit Services and Management Support performed an audit of the processes and controls over the cash collection activities of the City’s Parking Division. The audit objectives were to ensure that controls over cash management were adequate and operating effectively. The Parking Division is a self-supported enterprise fund that operates, maintains and repairs parking facilities in the City. It operates nine parking garages with 6,651 parking spaces, surface lots with 1,014 parking spaces and approximately 1,000 metered parking spaces. The Division enforces Chapter 39 of the City’s Municipal Code by issuing parking citations and immobilizing vehicles.

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OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE

The audit objectives were to ensure that controls over cash management were adequate and

operating effectively.

The scope of our audit focused on the cash collections activities for the various parking options

in the City.

METHODOLOGY

We determined the various cash collection points of the Parking Division. Additionally, we

rode along to observe the collection and deposit of cash from the various collection points. We

also interviewed various personnel to understand the Division’s processes for making and

reconciling daily deposits. For the various collection points we tested, we found no significant

exceptions. The specific areas we tested were:

Cash collections at the Library and Jefferson Street Garages

Cash Collections for two Events (Maroon 5 Concert and Orlando Solar Bears Game)

Master Meter Collections

Single Space Meter Collections

Collections for monthly garage passes

Collections for parking tickets

As result of these activities, we have identified opportunities to improve the cash collection

operations of the Parking Division.

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IISSUES AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Master meter cash

overages are not tracked.

We reviewed the cash collections from the master meters and we

found was one particular meter (Machine Orlando4) which had

trouble reconciling to the cash collected. The meter sales report

showed "Bills" of $257 but the cash counted from the meter was

$267. We inquired what could cause the additional $10 collected

and we were told this can occur when a customer pays for more

time than they use. The master meters require a prepayment for

parking and they do not give change for time not used. The Master

Meter only records the actual time used, not the time paid for or the

actual currency placed in the meter. We found that the overages

collected under these circumstances is not accounted for in the cash

collection records of the Division.

For a full accounting of the cash collected, overages should be

identified as such in the accounting records. Beyond having a more

accurate record of the cash collected, overages can indicate parking

facilities which encounter more parking turnover than expected.

Recommendation 1

Management Response

We recommend that the Parking Division begin to track overages of

cash collected from master meters so that the information can used

to help management gauge the amount of parking time available

versus amount of time used.

The Parking Division will develop a spreadsheet to track the

differences.

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Additional control needed

over parking garage cash

collections.

We observed the cash collection and reconciliation activities at

selected parking garages. During our review of the activities at the

Library garage, we observed the Parking Facilities Assistant

Supervisor pick up the cash collected from the prior day. The

Assistant Supervisor collected money bags and cash from the safe

and replenished the opening bank/change fund for each register.

The Assistant Supervisor is the only person who performs this task

and is responsible for transporting the cash bags and sales tickets to

the Parking Division accounting section for processing the deposit.

On a separate occasion, the auditor observed the cash collections at

Jefferson Street garage. We also found that the Parking Facilities

Assistant Supervisor was the only person on duty for this task.

We believe that best practice is to have two individuals perform the

cash collection activities described above. We acknowledge that

this would effectively double the personnel cost of the cash

collection operation. So, to enhance the controls over this daily

process more economically, we recommend that the Parking

Division install security cameras in the garages to record the cash

collection activities.

Recommendation 2

We recommend that the Parking Division install security cameras in

the cash room for each garage throughout the City to add an extra

layer of security and accountability.

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Management Response

The Parking Division is currently in the process of planning the

implementation of cameras in each of the garage facilities. The

camera systems will be phased in at the rate one garage per year.

Cameras will be placed in each of the offices during each facility’s

implementation. In addition, the Division is evaluating the

feasibility of electronic safes where each individual would have a

pass code and the activity could be monitored.

Information technology

needed to more efficiently

calculate parking

occupancy.

We observed the event parking operations of the Parking Division

for selected Amway Center event. The auditor rode along and

observed the actions of a Parking Assistant Supervisor on this

occasion. Throughout the evening, the assistant supervisor rode in

a golf cart to each lot location, accompanied by a security guard, to

collect cash drops from each parking attendant and monitor the

flow of parking. This process continued for the duration of the

event. At one point during the event, the assistant supervisor drove

through the 55 West garage to count the number of vehicles in the

garage for the event. The counting of vehicles was a manual

process and was necessary to properly reconcile the cash collected

for the evening.

The manual counting of a garage to determine the occupancy is a

quite inefficient method of operation. We believe that the Parking

Division would benefit from the use of available technology to

perform this task and free the supervisor to perform his more

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important direct oversight of the event parking operations

Recommendation 3

Management Response

We recommend that the Parking Division maximize the use of

information technology to more efficiently count the vehicles and

track parking occupancy.

The use of information technology to efficiently count the vehicles

and track occupancy is currently in the initial stages. A new Parking

Access and Revenue Control System (PARCS) has been approved for

implementation. This new system will provide real time counts of

vehicles and will track utilization and occupancy of the garages.

A)