Audit: 2 Pinal towns misused transportation funds
by Suzanne Adams-Ockrassa | Florence Reminder & Blade Tribune
The Arizona Auditor General’s Office has found the towns of Mammoth and Superior have not followed guidelines to bring them back into compliance with state laws on the use of Pinal County Transportation Excise Tax monies and may have inappropriately borrowed state Highway User Revenue Funds.
The office is recommending that the state withhold both cities’ shares of the transportation excise tax funds until they can show that the funds will be used appropriately.
During a 2016 audit of the Pinal County Transportation Excise Tax, the auditor general found that both towns had inappropriately loaned money from their share of the transportation tax to cover other expenses. At that time, the Auditor General’s Office made 11 recommendations to the towns that required them to pay the money back, examine their use of the tax money, create and implement policies to govern the use of the money, complete a transportation study and create a planning process to prioritize road projects.
