ATLANTA --- Gov. Sonny Perdue said Wednesday he has asked for an outside audit of the Georgia Department of Transportation amid evidence that the state has promised about $1 billion more in transportation contracts than it can afford.
The financial mess is likely to bring some road projects to a halt.
"There is a smell that's not very pleasant about what's happening and what's being found there," Mr. Perdue told reporters.
Transportation Commissioner Gena Abraham cautioned that the shortfall numbers are preliminary. But she said the financial picture she took over just a few months ago is not good.
"We've promised a lot more projects than we can possibly deliver," Ms. Abraham said.
The department will look at all 9,000 road and infrastructure projects it has on the books and prioritize which ones should move forward.
Transportation dollars have not kept up with population growth in booming metro Atlanta. Studies have ranked Atlanta traffic as the second-worst in the nation, and state business leaders have worried it could harm economic growth by discouraging business from locating in Georgia.
State lawmakers took on the issue this year. They had reached agreement on a plan under which local governments could band together into regional districts. Those districts could then seek voter approval to levy a one-cent sales tax increase for transportation projects in that region.
The proposal passed the House on Friday but fell three votes short of the needed two-thirds majority in the Senate just minutes before the legislative session came to a close. It was being backed by the state's powerful business lobby.
But Mr. Perdue didn't like the plan. He has said that until the Department of Transportation resolves its fiscal problems, he cannot ask Georgians to funnel more money its way.
Mr. Perdue praised the work of the new commissioner -- his choice to lead the department -- to get to the root of the financial problems there.
Comments
If it didn't take so many shovel holders you could reduce the costs. Normally I see about eight shovel holders and one shovel user. Also if you would get the supervisors out of their running trucks you could cut down on the use of gas and maybe they would be able to supervise the work!!
The "smell" starts with Sonny.
Commissioner Gena Abraham is highly qualified--PhD in civil engineering, highly analytical and articulate, and with the brains and acumen to ferret out the problems that have plagued GDOT for decades, particularly the mismatch of funding to road and bridge projects. There are many who have fed at the trough who now feel threatened by her hands on management. More power to her!
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