Misuse of Capital Outlay Funds by District of Columbia Department of Transportation

A review of supply management operations at the District of Columbia's Department of Transportation (DOT) indicated that the DOT misused capital outlay funds. During fiscal years 1974 through 1976, the DOT used about $575,000 of capital outlay appropriations to pay for operations and maintenance expenses which were not authorized. Operating expense requests were understated, and capital outlay requests were overstated by $575,000 during the 3-year period. Since capital outlay funds are borrowed at specified interest rates, the amount of interest paid increases the cost of the work performed. To determine whether adjustments to the proper appropriation accounts will violate the Antideficiency Act, the total amount of the appropriations remaining for each fiscal year must be considered. If there are sufficient funds available for each fiscal year, there would be no violation to the act. The Director, Office of Budget and Management Systems should: emphasize to department officials the statutory requirements concerning proper use and control of appropriated funds, adjust the appropriation accounts to properly record the expenditures, insure that DOT procedures require that all transfers of equipment between inventories be reported for reimbursement adjustment, and insure that the Department's budget requests to the Congress properly disclose fund needs for capital outlay and operation and maintenance.