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Letter: CRC audit incomplete

The Columbian
Published: April 22, 2014, 5:00pm

According to the April 17 story “CRC audit questions $17M in costs,” the audit found questionable spending, larger-than-usual profit markups to consultants and work that wasn’t authorized by contract in advance. The audit was quick to report that they didn’t find any financial misconduct or abuse. All that’s left is irresponsible spending.

David Evans and Associates “was overpaid by $1.45 million because of higher-than-usual markups.” Were there no contracts between the Washington State Department of Transportation and Evans? And just what is “higher-than-usual markups”? Were figures based on “usual markups”?

Deputy Transportation Secretary Cam Gilmour responded that the report didn’t report any abuse. Gosh, Cam, good for you. Since Gilmour’s agency had the lead on the CRC, he’s responsible for the poor spending and non-oversight of my tax dollars. I don’t want his agency handling my money in the future. Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, says there have been mistakes and money is missing but the audit didn’t find abuse. He thinks that’s good news.

What I find interesting is that overpayments, unauthorized work and lack of records between 2005 and 2013 is being addressed by the Washington State Auditor’s Office. The money allotted is $200,000, not a penny more. Consequently, the audit may not cover all facets of the CRC, which probably didn’t allow them to go through every transaction.

Richard Bolger

Camas

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