A state transportation department audit reveals the agency hid, then spent hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars that bureaucrats failed to report to the state legislature, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.
The hide-and-seek game occurred during the administration of former Gov. John Hickenlooper during the 2017 fiscal year.
The audit, which determined no fraud was committed, was completed during the Polis administration.
The whole matter will be set aside as a mere lack of transparency, and ignorance.
Transportation officials claim they weren’t aware they had to report that extra $1 billion they had left over from the previous year, of which more than $587 million was spent.
That’s in addition to the agency’s $1.563 billion budget approved by the legislature.
The agency also forgot to mention a federal windfall of $43.7 million.
This is some serious money they were hiding.
Truly scandalous, especially when voters were asked the following year to raise taxes for needed road projects.
The new transportation chief under Polis issued a gobbledygook excuse, plus a half-hearted pledge to hide the money better present a budget next year that will “look different.”
If this is what a mere performance audit uncovered, then clearly the agency needs a full-scale review of their books.