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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
Report No. 2004-54
July 2, 2004
The following problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the Missouri Department of Transportation, Office of Highway Safety.
Some Office of Highway Safety (OHS) purchases do not appear to be reasonable and necessary. During the years ended June 30, 2003 and 2002, the OHS spent more than $200,000 for various promotional and incentive items.
Numerous promotional type items, with a total cost of approximately $159,165, were purchased to be given out to the general public at training/safety events and the state fair. These items included stress balls, paperboard fans, reflective arm bands, key chains, zipper pulls, and bicycle seat reflectors. The majority of these items featured the OHS's logo along with a brief safety message (i.e.; Buckle Up).
Each year the OHS assists in sponsoring the Law Enforcement Traffic Safety Advisory Council (LETSAC) Conference. The OHS paid $8,854 for incentive items, including plaques, ribbons, coasters, and briefcases, to be given to conference participants. Because the conference participants are already knowledgeable of highway safety and OHS, the purchase and distribution of such items does not appear necessary. Items purchased for other training sessions and conferences, totaling approximately $15,993, were also considered unnecessary because recipients included state and federal highway safety personnel, law enforcement agents, and state employees.
Numerous incentive items costing approximately $19,741 were purchased for the 2002 Youth Preventive and Awareness Conference. The items included CD cases, eyeglass/sunglass holders, pails, beach towels, and palm tree paper sunglasses. Although these items may be beneficial to and related to the conference theme, it is not clear that they result in improved highway safety practices.
Expenditures related to the 2003, 2002, and 2001 LETSAC conferences, totaling $57,018, were paid without a review of actual invoices.
The OHS has seventeen employees and maintains five vehicles. The vehicles appear to be underutilized. There were several instances where personal vehicle mileage was reimbursed although one or more pool vehicles were available.
The OHS administers various federal projects to provide assistance to state and local units of government, law enforcement jurisdictions, and universities to implement traffic safety countermeasures and promote highway safety. Project monitoring was not performed for all projects as required by the OHS administrative guidelines. During fiscal years 2003, 2002, and 2001, 145 of 237, 148 of 307, and 86 of 143 projects, respectively, were not monitored. In addition, OHS does not have formal criteria for determining when the on-site or telephone monitoring method is more appropriate and reasonable. Of the projects monitored, approximately 46 percent, 63 percent, and 30 percent were monitored by telephone during fiscal years 2003, 2002, and 2001, respectively.
