May 4, 2012
Many audits of state agencies find wasted dollars, poor accounting controls, lax purchasing measures and even occasional fraud; so it’s worth pointing out that legislative auditors reviewing $2.6 billion of spending that went through the transportation secretary’s office found absolutely nothing. The good news comes as Transportation Secretary Beverley Swaim-Staley announced she’s leaving the post July 1, after almost three years in the job. [...more]
April 4, 2012
Approval of two retroactive contracts for Maryland Public Television worth $162,152 were unanimously approved by the Board of Public Works on Wednesday, but the long-standing problems with procurement at the state agency rankled Treasurer Nancy Kopp. [...more]
April 3, 2012
As the lid closes on the 2012 legislative session, lawmakers will likely double the flush tax from $30 to $60 to cover a projected $385 million shortfall in the Bay Restoration Fund, but some lawmakers say the tax hike aims to cover repeated raids on the fund that triggered a downgrade by Moody’s Investor Service 14 months ago. [...more]
March 21, 2012
In the midst of a session that has seen ethics and transparency pushed into the spotlight, two reports released this week gave the state poor rankings on both issues.
A nationwide report conducted by the State Integrity Investigation ranked Maryland 40th out of 50 states for corruption prevention, awarding the state a D- on their report card. [...more]
March 19, 2012
Members of the Maryland General Assembly are required to file conflict of interest forms if they think their personal financial interests may conflict with issues they are supposed to vote on. Some legislators file many forms, some file none at all. Most get little scrutiny from the public, but there is a proposal this year to put them all online. [...more]
March 13, 2012
Republicans in the General Assembly are proposing a constitutional amendment to create an elected state inspector general to root out waste, fraud and financial problems in state agencies. [...more]
March 1, 2012
The feasibility study that justified a controversial plan to move the Housing Department headquarters from Crownsville to New Carrollton has been a well guarded secret since 2010.
Current headquarters for the Housing and Community Development Department
The Crownsville headquarters for the Housing and Community Development Department
Del. Mary-Dulany James, D-Harford, wants Attorney General Doug Gansler’s opinion on whether the study can be released. [...more]
February 28, 2012
Cutting the budgets of agencies that have problems with waste, poor policies, and lack of adequate controls will spur them to fix the problems more quickly, said Del. Gail Bates, R-Howard.
Bates, a new member of the Joint Audit Committee, has proposed a bill that would allow budget committees to withhold up to 5% of an agency’s funds if there are at least three repeated findings on the regular audit reports done every three years by the Office of Legislative Audits. [...more]
February 26, 2012
The Maryland Transit Administration spent hundreds of millions of dollars without verifying bills and had little control over payroll, according to a report published Friday by the Office of Legislative Audits. The agency also did not have any standards for determining when disabled people qualified for a special transit program, and paid $744,000 in taxes it was exempt from. [...more]
February 23, 2012
The 20-year-old Medicaid computer system is getting a $297 million upgrade, the Board of Public Works voted unanimously on Wednesday. [...more]
