AUGUSTA — Every day, Mainers receive news of serious budget shortfalls, competing needs for scarce tax dollars, and calls to invest in our woefully underfunded transportation infrastructure.

As legislators, we are keenly aware that families and businesses are struggling, making additional taxes either problematic, or out of the question.

We will need to spend the people’s money more efficiently, and seek ways to eliminate unnecessary spending and outright waste.

That is why recent press reports questioning “the conduct” of Maine Turnpike Authority officials during a time when resources are scarce are deeply disturbing. These reports followed a recent report by the non-partisan watchdog Office of Program Evaluation and Governmental Accountability (OPEGA).

The MTA and its 470 employees are responsible for using toll revenues to maintain 109 miles of highway. OPEGA identified concerns in many areas, including:

• Lack of operating surplus transfers to MDOT: The MTA has made no cash transfers to the state since 1997, even though annual payments on special obligation bonds have been reduced by half. The OPEGA report noted that the method MTA uses to determine whether or not it has an “operating surplus” makes transfers to MDOT unlikely.

• Employee recognition and mission creep: “From 2005 to 2009, MTA spent $257,780 on employee recognition including service awards, banquets and cookouts, safety awards, holiday turkeys and items sent to staff members serving in the military overseas.”

• No-bid contracts: MTA is sole sourcing services that could be competitively bid. The OPEGA report found that of the MTA’s active contracts, 16.6 percent were sole-source arrangements that could have been competitively bid.

• Exorbitant and/or questionable sponsorships and donations: “OPEGA identified $297,238 in expenses for sponsorships or donations to charitable and non-charitable non-profit organizations OPEGA identified over $157,000 in gift certificate purchases made in 2005 and 2006 from various hotel chains and restaurants that were coded to the Travel and Subsistence expense category.

“MTA reports that the gift certificates were donated to a variety of organizations, although no formal records of the donations exist.

“In all, OPEGA identified $454,238 in sponsorships or donations made to 50 different organizations. Some organizations received contributions on an annual basis We noted that sponsorships or donations also went to non-charitable organizations that did not appear to have a direct tie to MTA’s mission.” (OPEGA Report Page 44).

• Excessive travel and meal expenses: “From 2005 — 2009, MTA coded $1,104,402 to the expense category Travel and Subsistence.” The OPEGA study said policies covering those expenses were not effectively implemented.

These and other questions raised by the OPEGA (and others) suggest a lack of oversight that needs to be addressed going forward. Since 1988, there have been numerous legislative proposals to abolish, merge and/or study the MTA; all have failed.

It will be interesting to see if MTA officials welcome this legislative review, or use their toll-funded team of lobbyists to insulate it from public scrutiny. According to the watchdog report: “OPEGA identified $577,237 in 2005 — 2009 expenses that primarily appear to be for lobbying services.” (OPEGA Report, Page 44). 

Even if it is legal for the MTA to spend public toll dollars on a stable of high-priced lawyers, we question why it is appropriate or needed when the MTA has an executive director, deputy executive director and CFO, and government affairs manager all making between $126,000 and $189,000 in salaries and benefits.

With every other state expenditure under scrutiny, the public deserves a thoughtful, informed review of the MTA. The Maine Legislature was responsible for creating the Maine Turnpike Authority in statute, and has ultimate responsibility for its oversight.

Attempts to oversee the MTA have been complicated by the lack of transparency regarding MTA dealings and ambiguities that exist in statute.

The questionable accountings, lax oversight, and absence of accountability identified by the OPEGA report suggest that it is time to take a new look at the leadership and structure of the Maine Turnpike Authority.

We need a thoughtful review of all the options available to us, then a course of action that will restore the public trust and confidence that has been shaken by the findings of the OPEGA report. The public interest demands no less from us.

– Special to the Press Herald