DOT Waste Irksome

Taxpayers shouldn't jump to conclusions, though

Only days after Horry County voters agreed to pay a higher sales tax to build roads in the county, it is more than a little galling to learn that a Legislative Audit Council has found the S.C. Department of Transportation has wasted millions of dollars.

County voters on Election Day approved a $425 million County Council proposal to enact a 1-cent, seven-year local-option sales tax for roads - mostly state roads. Horry County voters understood that little state money exists for new projects, and that not approving the tax would lead to increased gridlock and more traffic accidents and fatalities.

Among the findings of the audit were that DOT paid contractors $8.7 million for projects that were not completed and spent $32 million on unnecessarily high management fees. Any waste needs to be stopped. It's an abuse of the trust taxpayers place in government officials.

And certainly the timing of the audit's release is especially offensive to Horry County residents, but don't believe these findings are the reason Horry County has to shoulder the responsibility of building and improving state roads.

Two considerations are important to keep the audit findings in perspective.

One, the audit was triggered by complaints of Transportation Commission Chairman Tee Hooper, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Mark Sanford. Hooper has several times called for S.C. DOT Executive Director Elizabeth Mabry's resignation, and Sanford has long wanted to move DOT into his Cabinet. In other words, politics are at play here.

Two, the waste outlined in the report amounts to less than 1.5 percent of what the agency spent during the three years audited. The money in question wouldn't begin to solve road problems in Horry County.