Audit says 1.2 million miles on Nebraska DOT vehicles were not reported properly

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — A report issued Monday raises questions about millions of dollars in spending by the Nebraska Department of Transportation.

State Auditor Mike Foley said department employees drove over 1.2 million miles in 2023 that were not reported properly.

“The recordkeeping is just abysmally poor,” he told Channel 8. “We’re finding thousands of instances where the records are all wrong.”

The audit also says there were 8,496 fuel purchases that do not correspond to a travel log.

He alleged that employees may be filling up private vehicles with government credit cards.

The audit also found other discrepancies in NDOT’s vehicle expenses, like diesel purchases for gasoline-powered vehicles and employees buying more gas than their tank could hold.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Foley said.

In its response to the audit, NDOT said it would try to improve how it records travel data.

Foley also took issue with the department racking up $6 million in overtime costs last year, which the audit called “excessive.”

The audit accused NDOT of failing to review overtime to “ensure it was reasonable and necessary.”

But the department said supervisors examine all overtime hours before approving them.

NDOT noted that the vast majority of overtime costs came from construction and maintenance workers and said that those jobs often require long days and nights.