Ley 104 del 2001
Resumen
Esta ley enmienda la Ley Orgánica del Centro de Recaudación de Ingresos Municipales (CRIM) para fortalecer la fiscalización y transparencia en la gestión de fondos municipales. Establece la obligación del CRIM de proveer datos detallados a los municipios para evaluar la corrección de la información financiera, auditar las liquidaciones de fondos remitidos y contratar servicios de auditoría externa que incluyan estos aspectos. Busca asegurar la autonomía fiscal de los gobiernos municipales y corregir deficiencias identificadas en la administración pasada del CRIM.
Contenido
(No. 104)
(Approved August 15, 2001)
AN ACT
To add a subsection
(k) to Section 7, amend subsection
(q) and add a subsection
(v) to Section 9 of Act No. 80 of August 30, 1991, as amended, known as the "Municipal Revenues Collection Center Organic Act" (CRIM, Spanish acronym), in order to ensure to the Municipal Governments the broadening of their procedures through the establishment of the mandatory obligation of providing data that would allow them to evaluate the correctness of the information submitted, require the auditing of the liquidations of the funds remitted and contract external auditing services that include those extremes.
STATEMENT OF MOTIVES
The Municipal Revenues Collection Center Act (CRIM, Spanish acronym), is a municipal entity created by Act No. 80 of August 30, 1991, as amended, responsible for collecting, receiving and distributing the public funds belonging to the municipalities which proceed from the sources specified in its Organic Act and in other special laws.
Thus, the Center has a fundamental function since it has been given the delicate mission of receiving, looking after and distributing, pursuant to the legal and regulatory requirements, the public funds needed to give the Municipal Governments the fiscal autonomy they must have to enable them to defray the multiple programs and services they are called for to implement in benefit of their residents.
The Municipal Reform that took place in 1991 and the establishment of the CRIM as an indispensable adjunct for achieving municipal fiscal autonomy are inspired in the principle that states that the strengthening of the government at the local level makes of our democratic system a true reality since it is precisely the Municipal Governments that are closest to the people.
In creating the Municipal Revenues Collection Center, the aforementioned Act No. 80 of 1991, set forth its Governing Board as a balanced body by including the Mayors, whose representation was consonant with the results of the general elections, complemented by the President of the Government Development Bank and the Commissioner for Municipal Affairs as members of said Board. The inclusion of the Government Development Bank in the Governing Board of the CRIM was due to the fact that the latter is the fiscal agent of and financial advisor to the Central Government and the Municipalities and that the office of Commissioner of Municipal Affairs was created to assume the responsibility of serving as advisor to and regulator of all municipal matters.
The constitution of the CRIM as well as the remaining provisions of its Organic Act, approved in 1991, contain the safeguards and specifications needed to guide the performance of the duties of the members of the Governing Board and its executive officials in their endeavor to receive, collect and fairly distribute the funds belonging to all municipalities. These controls and criteria work properly if the officials in charge of their implementation exercise capably and carefully their ministerial and fiduciary duties.
Thus, the reprehensible and negligent acts of the members of the majority who made up the past Governing Board of the CRIM must not be
taken into account in determining the judgment to be delivered for justifying the existence of this body. This must be so, since the severe harm the CRIM inflicted upon the Municipal Governments during the past six years, in the long and the short term, was due to the obstinate negative manner in which the members of the majority which made up the Governing Board and its former Executive Director attended to the well-founded questions and denunciations that arose within the body itself and their reluctance to provide the municipalities and the members of the Board with the truthful information they demanded and were entitled to.
With the change of the incumbent officials of the CRIM and the remedial, criminal and civil actions already initiated and those to be initiated in the future, the harm inflicted upon the municipalities must be overcome and mitigated. The preceding notwithstanding and on the basis of past experiences, the purpose of this Act is to revise the Organic Act of the CRIM in order to ensure the Municipal Governments a broadening of the procedures of said body by establishing the express obligation of submitting the essential fiscal information needed to be well-informed about their finances and to responsibly administer the same. Furthermore, this Act also requires that the CRIM audit the liquidations of the remittances to the municipalities so as to guarantee that the fiscal information submitted is truthful and trustworthy and imposes upon the Governing Board the express obligation of contracting and arranging for the preparation of the audited financial statements.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF PUERTO RICO:
Section 1.- Subsection
(k) is hereby added to Section 7 of Act No. 80 of August 30, 1991, as amended, to read as follows: "Section 7.- Faculties and duties of the Board
The Board shall have the following faculties and duties besides the others provided in this Act and in any other applicable law
(a) ...
(k) Approve the contracting of external auditing services for the annual certified financial reports that must include, besides the audited financial statements of the Center, the analysis, audit and certification of the annual liquidations of the remittances of the Center to the Municipalities. Said contracting shall require that the external auditor(s) remit to the Board the letter to the management when the results of the audits indicate faults, irregularities or departures from the fiscal control measures in effect".
Section 2.- Subsection
(q) is hereby amended and subsection
(v) added to Section 9 of Act No. 80 of August 30, 1991, as amended, to read as follows: "Section 9.- Executive Director - Faculties and duties The Executive Director shall have the following faculties and duties, among others:
(a) ...
(q) Mandatory obligation to provide the municipalities at least once a year with all the data and reports with respect to its municipality that would allow evaluating their correctness and that foster efficient municipal administration.
(v) Submit annually to the municipalities copies of the audited financial statements together with the results of the analysis, audit and certification of the annual liquidations of the respective remittances of the Center to the municipality in question conducted by the contracted external auditor(s)" .
Section 3.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 104 (H.B. 845) of the $1^{ ext {st }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
ANACT to add a subsection
(k) to Section 7, amend subsection
(q) and add a subsection
(v) to Section 9 of Act No. 80 of August 30, 1991, as amended, known as the "Municipal Revenues Collection Center Organic Act" (CRIM, Spanish acronym), in order to ensure to the Municipal Governments the broadening of their procedures through the establishment of the mandatory obligation of providing data that would allow them to evaluate the correctness of the information submitted, require the auditing of the liquidations of the funds remitted and contract external auditing services that include those extremes, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $29^{ ext {th }}$ of October of 2004.
Elba Rosa Rodríguez-Fuentes Director