An audit of Caltrans shows the department's maintenance division is inefficient in planning, budgeting and managing service requests. The California State Auditor's report says 30-thousand requests over the last five years took at least three months to resolve.
Margarita Fernandez is with the auditor's office. She says Caltrans bases its budget on historical averages instead of need.
"We recommended that the Legislature require the maintenance division to implement a business model for field maintenance that takes into account these key indicators to identify the maintenance needs -- like traffic, volume and climate, for example," says Fernandez.
According to Fernandez, Caltrans spent $250,000 on a budget model in 2009 but has never used it. The audit says Caltrans often doesn't review the costs of field maintenance projects before or after completion.
Caltrans has 60 days to respond.
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