Attorney General Gentner Drummond participates in District Attorneys Council meeting on Aug. 17, 2023. (Photo by Carmen Forman/Oklahoma Voice)
OKLAHOMA CITY – The state’s Attorney General said Tuesday that he is frustrated that an investigative audit of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority that he requested more than two years ago hasn’t been completed.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said the state’s auditor and inspector needs to finalize the audit, which he first requested in March 2023, so he can take any appropriate action.
“While I certainly understand the need for a thorough and detailed review, I am not aware of any other instance in the history of our state when an investigative audit required more than two years to complete,” he said.
In a March 15, 2023, letter to Byrd requesting the audit, Drummond wrote that his concerns include improper transfers between OTA and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, improper contracting and purchasing, and inadequate internal financial controls.
In response to Drummond’s criticism, Byrd said Tuesday an audit of this size and scope has never been done on OTA.
She said when her office got the request, she announced it would be a year before she could get started because the office was already auditing billions in COVID-19 pandemic spending.
The agency’s work was further delayed when it was called upon to look at financial problems at the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Byrd said.
She said Drummond was notified that special audits were temporarily suspended due to that and agreed.
Drummond could better serve Oklahomans by actually facilitating prosecutions based on her office’s findings in previous investigations, Byrd said.
Joe Echelle, OTA executive director, also addressed the ongoing audit Tuesday at his governing board’s regular monthly meeting. The state Auditor and Inspector has never audited the OTA before, he said.
“We are audited by a lot of different organizations all the time,” said Dana Weber, an OTA board member. “So, it is not like this is our first audit, it is just the first audit of this type.”
Echelle said the agency is paying $150,000 for the audit, which is not necessary and redundant.
He said OTA is audited by a third-party auditor every year and undergoes financial scrutiny from various entities because it sells bonds.
The agency’s internal auditor also reports its findings, Echelle said.
Auditors are also looking at how the agency bids projects and selects consultants, Echelle said.
He said there was no due date on the audit.
Echelle said the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency is also expected to file its own report of OTA in a month or two.
That probe is looking at how much OTA owes in outstanding bonds and if a route exists for the Legislature to pay off the bonds, Echelle said.
OTA has slightly more than $3 billion in outstanding bonds, said Lisa Shearer-Salim, a spokeswoman.
The agency sells bonds to build and improve turnpikes. It uses toll revenue to pay off the bonds.
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