Trimess

Monday, July 8, 2013

Interesting information posted at Oregonian Editorial

When was the last time TriMet was fully audited?
Have decades passed without this needed oversight?

Will the Secretary of State audit itself will be transparent with a full disclosure of the entire scope of review that will get the x-ray?

Hopefully it will include how every dime of capital projects money has been and is being spent.

Look at the pages of employees attributed to Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail and being paid with borrowed capital projects money. Is this legit?
Page 272
http://trimet.org/pdfs/publications/fy13-adopted-b...

FY12 same thing.
http://trimet.org/pdfs/publications/fy12-adopted-b...
Go to page 225 and look at all the staff supposedly assigned to Milwaukie Light Rail.

Because there is no one checking TriMet could be using Light rail/capital projects funding to pay for a lot of their operations/employees who seldom, if at all, work on any light rail.

Like so many other government agencies TriMet has forever misrepresented, by inference, that their annual financial statement audits are more than they are. This false pretense is justifiably perceived as a deliberate attempt to deter greater scrutiny.
It should be regular practice for every government agency and/or project to be subjected to independent forensic auditing every few years to deter any shady shifting, shuffling or misappropriation of revenue.

Take notice of how Metro auditor explains the need for independent performance auditing.
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/0...

Although Flynn is recommending the independent performance auditing for PPS projects she as subsequently neglected to give the same advice for the CRC. Too bad.
But the point she made certainly applies to the CRC and the entire TriMet operation.

We'll soon see how independent Brown's office is capable of being.

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