The Colorado Department of Transportation on Friday announced a new series of transparency and accountability measures.
The steps come after a critical state audit released last year found problems with CDOT’s accounting practices. Among its findings: The agency did not have practices in place to detect employee fraud and did not close out projects in a timely manner.
“The department is not maximizing its available funding,” the audit said.
CDOT’s new measures contained four main points:
The agency’s governing body recently approved more than $1.5 billion worth of projects over the next three years.
“This initiative is particularly important now,” CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew said in a statement.
And state lawmakers are currently discussing how to get more money into CDOT’s coffers. Republicans would prefer taking it from the state’s general fund, while Democrats hope to take a tax increase to voters sometime in the future.
No matter how those discussions at the state Capitol unfold in the coming weeks, Republican Sen. Ray Scott said it’s imperative that CDOT can show it’s a good steward of public dollars.
“There would be nothing worse than us pushing measures forward to ask for more funding and then find out that CDOT is actually not spending money it’s getting wisely,” he said.
Scott called CDOT’s announcement a step in the right direction.
“I have to give them kudos,” he said.
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