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DEL.ICIO.USPay no attention to that $1.2 billion deficit behind the curtain
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re told not to worry, but state auditors have uncovered a deficit at the state Department of Transportation that stood at $839 million as of March 31, and could reach $1.2 billion by the end of this month.
State officials say they think — though this is not a promise — that it will take no more than a little shuffling of money from one checking account to another to fix things.
But my colleague Ariel Hart sensed some tension in the room.
John Thornton, a division director for the state Department of Audits, said he believed “there was a miscalculation of how much money” the department had on hand.
DOT board member Steve Farrow asked why these problems had not been found previous audits. Thornton, who has been with the auditing department for 29 years and has audited DOT before, said that he did not know whether the current system of looking at the DOT books had been used before.
When board member Robert Brown repeated that these problems were longstanding at the DOT, Thornton mentioned Fast Forward, which had been Sonny Perdue’s top-shelf transportation program — until the governor recently discovered that only 20 percent of the projects contained in the program had been completed.
“During Fast Forward, when you try to do in six years what would normally take place in 18 year, you are changing the dynamics of your operation. So it can put stress and pressure in areas that may not have been there in prior years,” Thorton said.
Comments
By Mike K.
June 19, 2008 9:15 AM | Link to this
State officials say they think — though this is not a promise — that it will take no more than a little shuffling of money from one checking account to another to fix things.
Raise you hand if you think that the deficit is due to an accounting error.
By skewedpos
June 19, 2008 9:35 AM | Link to this
While the GDOT Board should have known better and raised the issue, this is a great example of over-committing when an agency doesn’t have the capacity to fulfill its commitments.
It’s just like a manufacturing company taking orders it can’t fill.
In this case, Smiley Perdue made commitments his agency couldn’t fulfill. It’s all a matter of knowing what capacity is available and either increasing it or scaling back expectations.
By Joeventures
June 19, 2008 10:04 AM | Link to this
The best part of this story is David Doss trying to explain why this budget deficit doesn’t exist.
He claims the audit doesn’t include two $600 mln bonds that will be issued this year.
Great. So, in other words, in order to cover for a $1.2 bln deficit, GDOT will burden itself with $1.2 bln worth of debt in a time of falling revenues.
David Doss needs to be removed from the board.
By gttim
June 19, 2008 10:48 AM | Link to this
“….it will take no more than a little shuffling of money from one checking account to another to fix things.”
So said Enron!
Surely, they can fix this with a tax cut! And a gas tax cut! Perhaps a few more tax loopholes for large corporations!
Funny, the GOP always preaches that government cannot possibly do a good job handling money and when they get power they show us!
By JK
June 19, 2008 11:22 AM | Link to this
How much of that money went to somebody’s buddy’s tree cutting business to clear cut trees along the highway that used to provide nearby citizens with some measure of buffer from the noise and smog? There’s empty space where those trees were — no new lanes —, and lots more heat and smog. Thanks, guys!!! Which one of you got the kickbacks from THAT pointless contract?
By SUBURBAN OVERLORD
June 19, 2008 11:23 AM | Link to this
This is the way the state DOT has operated for YEARS. EVERYONE KNOWS THIS, INCLUDING THOSE DINGBAT DOT BOARD MEMBERS. The rural-dominated legislature and governors have complicity ENCOURAGED this for DECADES. Are the state’s auditors blind? Nahhhh…
This is pure THEATRICS for public consumption to support the Governor’s case that GDOT is “too inefficient” to spend more money. Now Governor Sonny and his trained show poodle Casey Cagle think they can puff out their chests and say “told you so” to defend obstructing transportation funding for metro Atlanta.
Can you imagine any past Governor plotting such a cynical ploy to cover a bad policy decision? Former President Richard Nixon is looking up and tipping his hat to Governor Sonny’s cleverness!
What is true is that the “King of the Crackers” Sonny Perdue has strong armed Georgia DOT, nearly to the point of bankruptcy, to issue BOND DEBT to fund the wasteful GRIP rural road widening program. This is what happens when a state issues $250 million of debt to pay for widening US 19, a road with less than 4,000 cars a day on it, between Leesburg and Butler! There are dozens of examples of this waste.
By Can't stand Doss
June 19, 2008 12:02 PM | Link to this
David Doss is a ethicless flack for the big road builders. The dude is only on the board to make sure the big road builders get their way, all of the time. He’s an utter and complete embarassment.
By betty boop
June 21, 2008 9:21 PM | Link to this
There is accounting and Accounting. Moving too little money around does not clear up the problem.
All you guys stuck in traffic while the cost of gasoline you are wasting trying to get to and from work, plus all you guys who have torn up tires and wheels in the pot holes, and all you guys coughing and wheezing from the pollution == NOW YOU KNOW WHY.
BETTY BOOP