You may have read in this week’s Beacon that the DOT Board voted to change its accounting practices. I would like to address this and clear up any misconceptions. 

Twenty-two months ago, our previous DOT commissioner, Gena Evans, made the decision that the department could not go to contract with a project until every dollar for that project was in the bank. This is cash-based accounting. For years we used accrual or cash-flow accounting, which allowed us to encumber dollars that we knew we would receive from the federal government and state motor fuel to let multiyear projects go to contract.

 
I do not know what the previous commissioners’ motives or reasoning was to implement this cash-accounting method, but the results were devastating to the citizens of Georgia. All lettings of contracts came to a halt, which led to thousands of Georgians losing their jobs and virtually no roads being built. We went from letting $2 billion in projects to less than $500 million. Let me make it clear: We never spent more money than we knew would be received from the federal government or the state motor fuel fund.

The best example of this would be if we were building a $60 million project that is going to take three years. The question is: can we let the contract start when we have $20 million in the bank while knowing that we have the additional $40 million in years two and three coming, or do we have to wait until we have all $60 million in the bank, which would mean we would wait for three years to begin the project? Does this make sense?

Now we are asking the state Attorney General is to render an opinion. Can we commence with multiyear projects now, knowing we are going to receive the federal and state motor fuel dollars in subsequent years? Or do we sit around and wait? As a DOT board we believe that the commitment from the federal government is as good as money in the bank, so why not put Georgians to work now and get started on building badly needed infrastructure sooner?

In this economy that is not a bad idea.

In the action our board took this week, we did not vote to change our accounting procedures until July 1. This gives the Attorney General Thurbert Baker six months to render an opinion. We also are supporting legislation – SR 821, introduced by Sen. David Shafer (R-Johns Creek) — that would allow the DOT to enter into Multiyear Construction Agreements. This is part of our legislative package that was unanimously supported by our board.

The governor stated our actions exhibited a clear defiance of state law and a frightening lack of concern for our financial systems. Let me assure you we are not being defiant and we are not spending more money than we have coming to us. The DOT is different from other state agencies in that we receive dedicated money from the federal government and state motor fuel that can only be spent on roads and bridges. And since that money is clearly allocated, we believe we should have that ability to encumber earlier rather than later. This is an issue that the DOT board and the governor simply cannot come to agreement on, so we are requesting an opinion from the state’s highest justice official. We want Baker to render an opinion and settle this issue once and for all. This is why we have more than one branch of state government. It’s called checks and balances. If it was good enough for the Founding Fathers, it’s good enough for the board members of the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Please e-mail comments, questions and suggestions to brandonlbeach@aol.com.