WASHINGTON -- As Metro continues to deal with budget issues that could lead to service cutbacks and job losses, reports by Metro's inspector general have found that the transit agency has trouble managing federal funds and tracking its farecards.
In other words, business as usual continues at WMATA. The inspector general's findings were reported in the Washington Post, as well as initial reactions.
"Shouldn't the people in charge of the money be in charge of the money?" asked Ben Ross, spokesman for Transit First!, a riders' group. "That's the kind of sloppiness that led to the problem with money being stolen from the parking garages," he said.
Among the findings, the reports said there was a $14,486 shortage of farecards at three sales offices last year. They said no one regularly counts farecards and compares the numbers against a central inventory.
The inspector reports said four offices manage farecard sales, and "no one official" is accountable for oversight of sales.
In some cases, there were inadequate physical safeguards for cash and Farecards. For example, security cameras at two Metro sales offices remained broken for two years. Supervisors said they alerted sales office managers, but no action was taken. After sales office workers found cash and Farecards missing, requests for action were not acted upon or investigated, according to Inspector General Helen Lew.
Officials also found that Metro did not track how federal funds were spent. The agency has received about $2.2 billion in federal money over the last decade.
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... in several instances, the inspector general found, the accounting was inaccurate. For example, Metro spent $46,000 to buy two police motorcycles with money for preventive rail maintenance. Metrobus managers spent $264,000 on 50 laptop computers under a line item for 40-foot hybrid electric buses. (The laptops were to be installed in supervisors' vehicles to help them track bus locations.)
Metro officials said they have adopted new procedures and internal controls. General Manager John Catoe said the agency needs to make other improvements and that he would be "making changes."
