North Carolina State Auditor Beth Wood told the Senate Transportation Committee that the Transportation Department overspent its budget due to mismanagement. | Facebook
North Carolina State Auditor Beth Wood told the Senate Transportation Committee that the Transportation Department overspent its budget due to mismanagement. | Facebook
The North Carolina Department of Transportation exceeded its budget by $742 million, Auditor Beth Wood told the Senate Transportation Committee during a hearing in May.
Wood's audit attributes the overspending to the department's mismanagement and lack of oversight, North State Journal reported on May 26. The hearing of the budget came after the department announced its shortfall of $300 from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Transportation Department is trying to improve operations, but hasn't given any evidence of spending being slowed, Wood said at the hearing, the North State Journal reported. She also said that mismanagement and overspending have occurred "for decades."
Wood's audit also showed the 14 highways divisions and engineers, that are meant to manage spending, were doing so "however they chose," according to North State Journal.
"When we perform an audit, we sit down with the findings and ask the department to prove us wrong,” Wood said, according to the North State Journal.
The Transportation Department listened to what Wood's said and agreed with the audit's findings, according to the North State Journal. Transportation officials also said they would take corrective actions.