The City of Long Beach, Calif.’s auditor conducted an audit of the City Harbor Department’s fuel expenditures, finding that 97 percent of the Harbor Dept.’s fuel transactions have adequate controls.

The auditor noted that the Harbor Dept. uses fuel rings on its fleet vehicles (physical rings programmed with each specific vehicle’s identification and fuel type; vehicles without a ring can’t access fuel) for most of its fueling stations, box rings (portable, reprogrammable rings), and a single master garage remote that grants access to fuel without restrictions.

The Harbor Dept. purchased approximately 109,000 gallons of fuel, at a cost of $388,000, in FY-2012 and performed an estimated 9,000 fuel transactions at the department’s two fueling station locations, according to the auditor. The audit stated that fuel rings are more effective in limiting unauthorized access to fuel than fuel keys. The box rings and master garage remote allow less restricted access to fuel, but the auditor stated the review found no pattern of excessive fuel use with these methods, either.

The audit also noted that the Harbor Dept. has selected a new fuel system to replace the older one it has used since 1995. The City has been using Orpak USA’s RNI 2000 system and plans to replace it with the Orpak Island Card Reader and keep the existing fuel ring requipment.