OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Officials have requested an audit from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to find $230 million that a local prosecutor says is missing from a county road fund.
Paul Smith, the district attorney for Pontotoc, Seminole and Hughes counties, has requested that the Oklahoma State Auditors and Inspector’s Office “examine the books and accounts” of the department to find the missing funds.
Smith said the money is missing from the County Improvements for Roads and Bridges Program, which was created in 2006 and is used for the construction or reconstruction of county roads and bridges statewide. Smith said the issue was brought to his attention by county officials in his region. He said statutes require the state Transportation Department to safeguard money allocated to the program, but that there’s currently a negative fund balance.
Department officials said it only oversees the fund and doesn’t add or remove money. They said the Oklahoma Legislature has removed the money because of tough budget years.
“The continued reallocation of state funds by the Legislature may have contributed to the appearance of a lack of funds for specific projects when it has been transferred out of the program as a whole,” the department said in a statement. “However, ODOT can account for all of the monies in the program and project commitments that have already been made are fully funded.”
The department said it expects the audit report to support their argument.
State Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones said Tuesday that he expects to release a report on the matter soon.
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