Auditors

Auditors have raised doubts about First Mariner Bancorp's ability to remain in business, according to financial statements that the largest Baltimore-based bank, founded by prominent businessman Edwin F. Hale Sr., filed with regulators late Thursday. Stegman & Co., the auditor hired by First Mariner to review its finances for its annual report, said the company "has suffered recurring losses and has a limited capital base. These conditions raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.

The Maryland Tax Court has frequently failed to rule on residential property assessment cases as promptly as the law requires, according to a state audit made public Thursday. The court, which hears appeals in cases involving state and local taxes, must hear and decide residential property assessment cases within 90 days. But 41 percent of the cases heard between July 2010 and mid-February took longer - as much as a year past the 90-day point, the Office of Legislative Audits said.

I'm glad MayorStephanie Rawlings-Blakehas provided funding for additional auditor positions ("Rawlings-Blake calls for regular city audits," June 13). The new auditors' first assignment should be to determine why Baltimore needs 55 city agencies. After that, they should be tasked with identifying ways to consolidate some of these agencies. The Department of Audits currently conducts independent audits of each agency; however, in doing so, they are unlikely to detect overlaps among agencies.

Servers that host internet service for more than 30 state agencies are vulnerable to a cyberattack, according to a legislative audit released this week. The Maryland State Archives, which oversees the five servers, did not update the operating systems in more than five years, auditors found. Without the protective software patches and updates, Internet service for nearly the entire state government could be at risk, Legislative Auditor Thomas J. Barnickel III said. Auditors said there was no evidence of hacking, merely a weakness in the system that could hypothetically knock most state agencies offline or direct state Internet traffic to malicious sites.

State auditors have questioned $88,000 in claims paid to health care providers by the Family Health Administration in the last two fiscal years. The auditors said in a report made public Tuesday that the FHA, which provides health care services to at-risk communities, did not adequately make sure claims were legitimate. For instance, from January 2008 to July 2009 the agency paid for several medical procedures that were considered questionable because records show accompanying care, such as anesthesia, was not provided.

State tax officials should take steps to help ensure that Marylanders who receive the homestead property tax credit remain eligible for the popular discount, auditors said in a report released Wednesday. Auditors also said state officials should methodically review some past recipients to identify owners who have gotten large tax discounts improperly — and who should refund the government. "There are ways to be proactive about this and not depend on people providing tips," state Legislative Auditor Thomas J. Barnickel III said in an interview Wednesday.

The Maryland Tax Court has frequently failed to rule on residential property assessment cases as promptly as the law requires, according to a state audit made public Thursday. The court, which hears appeals in cases involving state and local taxes, must hear and decide residential property assessment cases within 90 days. But 41 percent of the cases heard between July 2010 and mid-February took longer - as much as a year past the 90-day point, the Office of Legislative Audits said.

Washington -- William F. Gibson has moved again to muzzle Coopers & Lybrand auditors on the eve of tomorrow's vote that may end his 10-year reign as board chairman of the NAACP.Sources at NAACP headquarters in Baltimore tell me that Dr. Gibson is trying desperately to prevent the board from learning lTC the exact amounts of his credit-card transactions; about plane tickets for his female companion paid for by the NAACP, or about the $126,000 limousine bill that the NAACP ran up between November 1993 and January 1995.

State officials placed at least 32 children in foster homes despite credible evidence that the care providers had abused or neglected children, according to a General Assembly audit released Friday. Auditors found that officials with the Social Services Administration also failed to follow up on 159 children born to parents who had had their parental rights terminated for abuse or neglect. The auditors blamed the computer system that the Maryland agency uses to monitor child services and said many of the deficiencies had not been corrected.

Maryland Transportation Secretary Beverley K. Swaim-Staley told state lawmakers Tuesday that internal auditors knew about some irregularities in the awarding of contracts by the State Highway Administration but didn't raise an alarm. The transportation chief went before the General Assembly's Joint Committee on Audits to respond to two reports this year that identified ethical lapses and violations of contracting rules in one of the largest agencies of state government. Swaim-Staley said she is moving aggressively to change a culture at the SHA that put getting work done above abiding by the state's procurement laws.

The State Archives had inadequate procedures to prevent loss or employee theft of its $31.4 million art collection, and outdated software left its computers vulnerable to attack, an audit released Tuesday found. The Department of Legislative Services audit did not find evidence that computers had been hacked or art lost or stolen, but recommended the State Archives improve its oversight. State Archives officials agreed with the auditors' findings and said they have put into place the recommendations or will soon do so. The State Archives, with a $8.7 million annual budget, keep historically significant documents and art, as well as certain government and private records.

Here's the gist of what legislative auditors discovered when they recently evaluated Baltimore's liquor board: It is doing a lousy job. And here's a short summary of the liquor board's response: Yup. It would be shocking if it weren't so predictable. Does anyone living in this city believe the Baltimore Board of Liquor License Commissioners has ever done an adequate job of overseeing businesses that sell alcohol? Maybe a few former commissioners, but probably not them either. Not that the business of regulating bars and package stores is without controversy elsewhere in the state.

State tax officials should take steps to help ensure that Marylanders who receive the homestead property tax credit remain eligible for the popular discount, auditors said in a report released Wednesday. Auditors also said state officials should methodically review some past recipients to identify owners who have gotten large tax discounts improperly — and who should refund the government. "There are ways to be proactive about this and not depend on people providing tips," state Legislative Auditor Thomas J. Barnickel III said in an interview Wednesday.

A state audit found that the Maryland State Department of Education did not conduct routine but critical inspections of child care facilities and failed to follow up on red flags raised by background checks of staff working for the programs. The audit, released Tuesday by the state's Office of Legislative Audits, found that the department did not perform 31 mandated inspections of child care facilities in the region, primarily in Baltimore and in Prince George's County. The inspections "ensure that child care facilities protect the general health and safety of children under their care," such as supervision and cleanliness, according to the audit.

University of Maryland University College may have overpaid $3.3 million to a marketing contractor, state auditors found in a review that came just before the school's president was placed on indefinite leave and then abruptly resigned. The misstep was included as an addendum in a routine review of the university's operational and financial systems published Thursday by the state's Office of Legislative Audits. Auditors noted that after the conclusion of their fieldwork — which primarily occurred March 2011 through August 2011 — "we became aware of certain significant events that necessitated additional focused audit work.

Michael Mershon can get pretty stirred up about lighting. He's been working in the business for more than 30 years, most of that time in Maryland, and said he's seen local governments waste millions of dollars on lighting jobs through contract practices that were sloppy, or worse. He was worked up enough early last year to file a complaint with the Howard County auditor, detailing how companies he was representing were prevented from bidding against a large lighting company for a job on a county athletic field.

With uncertainty looming about USAir's ability to win crucial labor concessions, company auditors for the first time have raised questions about whether the airline can survive.After a two-week delay, USAir Group Inc. filed its year-end financial report yesterday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in which the company's accountants concluded there was "substantial doubt" whether the airline could continue operating in its current form.Since 1988, the airline has lost more than $3 billion, including $684.

The state contractor that collects child support payments in Baltimore continues to have trouble meeting the terms of its agreement, according to a report released Wednesday by the Office of Legislative Audits calling for better oversight by the Department of Human Resources. In a follow-up review after blasting the agency last year for not doing enough to collect payments, the auditors said the state had completed or begun to address nearly all issues, but noted that the department had made only "minimal progress" addressing contracting issues in Baltimore.

The state agency that holds Maryland Public Television's broadcast licenses didn't solicit bids for a $2.55 million contract it awarded and mistakenly paid $72,000 more than had been authorized to another contractor, a state audit found. The audit of the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission, made public Tuesday, said a three-year contract for direct marketing and fundraising was awarded on a "sole-source" basis even though at least one other vendor offers similar services, including a public media co-op.

State auditors found some oversight and reporting deficiencies during their inspection of the books of the Maryland Aviation Administration, which operates BWI Marshall Airport. The review by the Office of Legislative Audits discovered instances where agency officials did not maintain adequate control over architectural and engineering contracts totaling $38.3 million, used unapproved subcontractors on projects, misled the Board of Public Works, did not adequately control some purchase orders and kept inadequate inventory records.