Despite the N.C. Department of Transportation not exceeding its spending plan for the first half of fiscal year 2021, the N.C. Office of the State Auditor has still expressed some concerns.
In a recent news release, the auditor’s office said that the department’s plan was not based on specific projects and operations for the fiscal year, and that its success at staying within its spending plan was largely due to chance.
The first half of fiscal year 2021 ran from July-December, 2020.
“It was not the result of the department management’s planning and control based on realistic expectations,” read a portion of the release.
The auditor’s office also said that the department was not following the recommendations made to it, including implementing prior audit recommendations, basing its spending plan on specific projects and operations scheduled for the fiscal year.
The auditor also recommended that the chief engineer’s office should formally monitor each highway division’s spending throughout the fiscal year, to ensure that individual highway divisions do not overspend.
“We thank (State Auditor Beth Wood) and her staff for her hard work and partnership,” said N.C. Department of Transportation Western District Communications Officer David Uchiyama. “We are both committed to making continued improvements to our process and how we do business.
“NCDOT’s finances have stabilized and we continue to track below our spend plan. We appreciate her office’s help in getting to a strong financial position and look forward to continuing this partnership.”
The agency projected a $300 million budget shortfall for the first half of the fiscal year – due to the pandemic – and took some steps to mitigate the potential crisis, including delaying some projects across the state.
A May 2020 audit showed that the agency had overspent its fiscal year 2019 budget by $743 million, due to management issues.