Poor planning, lax oversight and questionable contract management could doom California's ambitious plans to build a multibillion-dollar high-speed rail line to connect its major cities, according to a report released yesterday by State Auditor Eileen Howle.
The report, which was commissioned last year by the state Legislature, accuses the California High Speed Rail Authority of making overly optimistic budget projections, submitting inaccurate progress reports and has consistently failed to document millions of dollars of work performed by contractors.
At one point, according to the report, the authority "misused public funds" when it purchased $46,000 in furniture for one of its contractors using state bond money.
"This report concludes that the High-Speed Rail Authority has not adequately planned for the future development of the program," the report reads.
In a response included with the audit, authority chairman and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle criticized Howle's office for attaching an "inflammatory" title to the report but acknowledged that the authority has much room to improve. The report's official title is "High Speed Rail Authority: It Risks Delays or an Incomplete System Because of Inadequate Planning, Weak Oversight, and Lax Contract Management". (Sounds like a real page-turner, right?)
"While the Authority is appreciative that the report in its entirety reflects more objectively the challenges of a state entity in transition from a planning body to one responsible for implementing a large-scale public infrastructure project, we also appreciate that not all Californians are able to read each and every word in the audit report and therefore may be mislead by the title and headlines contained within," Pringle wrote.
The authority's response goes on to outline a number of changes already underway, including plans to further finance the project and make spending more transparent.
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