D.C. Audit Criticizes Vehicle Oversight, Unpaid Fines
WASHINGTON - A new D.C. audit found vehicles assigned to the offices of the mayor and schools chancellor have racked up more than $1,000 in unpaid parking tickets and traffic fines.
WASHINGTON - A new D.C. audit found vehicles assigned to the offices of Mayor Adrian Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee have racked up more than $1,000 in unpaid parking tickets and traffic fines, reported The Washington Post.
In addition, the auditor's office sampled five of the city's 78 agencies and found 685 unpaid fines, totaling $71,690, since 2002. The agencies were the D.C. public schools, the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, Child and Family Services, the Department of Health and the Department of Employment Services.
One of the vehicles assigned to the mayor's office has $770 in unpaid fines, and a vehicle designated for Rhee's office has $345 in fines. "As of the date of this report, the fines had not been paid," auditor Deborah K. Nichols said in her report, dated April 23.
According to the auditor, the agencies said that the outstanding fines had not been paid because they "could not consistently identify the employee who was assigned to use the vehicle when parking and traffic fines were issued."
The unpaid fines were among several problems the D.C. Auditor's Office found with the management of the city's 2,635-vehicle fleet. The Fleet Management Administration, a division of the Department of Public Works, does not keep a list of which city employees are authorized to operate government vehicles. The city also lacks uniform policies for all employees, such as prohibiting those who have driving infractions from operating vehicles, according to the report.
In another area, the auditor's office discovered that 15 vehicles not listed as being government-owned or leased received $27,395 in fuel in fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2009.
For full details of the 83-page report, click here.
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