Audit criticizes governor's billing of travel to Revenue Department

A state audit of the Deparment of Revenue today criticized Gov. Jay Nixon for billing travel to the Department of Revenue even though many of the trips did not include department personnel.

From the cover letter:

The audit also found that the department paid nearly $26,000 in salaries and other costs related to the governor's office and the Office of Administration (OA). In fiscal year 2009, the funds went toward one staff member in the governor's office. In fiscal year 2010, the funding increased to three members of staff in the governor's office and two in the OA. It appears these employees were located in, and supervised by, the governor's office and the OA and performed functions related to those offices. The DOR also paid over $9,500 for 35 flights of the governor's office, only four of which included DOR personnel. The audit questions the appropriateness of these costs because the travel did not always benefit the DOR and department employees were frequently not on the flights. As previous audits have indicated, paying costs of other state agencies like this circumvents the appropriations process.