A Dallas Area Rapid Transit attorney is investigating the potential misuse of taxpayer money by members of the agency’s board of directors.
Some board members allegedly used DART funds to pay for personal travel outside of the United States, reported KERA News. The issue was raised during a DART board meeting last Tuesday.
During a debate over DART’s $1.8 billion budget for the new fiscal year, which began on October 1, Assistant Secretary Doug Hrbacek said that the board’s attorney, Gene Gamez, raised the issue of a complaint received on September 12 concerning travel expenses.
“At the end of the day, we have board members traveling around the world … and it appears some of them are approving their own travel,” Hrbacek said, per KERA News.
He said a pending audit will look into board members’ travel expenses going back to 2019. However, he did not specify whose travel expenses were being audited or where the board members had traveled.
“I think we need to stop, we need to figure out what’s going on,” he said, according to KERA News.
At least one DART employee brought up the issue during the public comment portion of the meeting.
“We’re a public entity. We see the numbers,” said Diego Garcia, per KERA News. “What are we doing with that money? Traveling around the world?”
The board is scheduled to discuss changes to its travel policy during its October 17 meeting.
In a statement to The Dallas Express, DART spokesperson Gordon Shattles said the agency “takes complaints very seriously.” However, because “this is an active investigation,” he said a public information act request must be filed to obtain additional information.
During the same meeting, DART’s board passed a $1.8 billion budget for fiscal year 2023-24.
The approval process somewhat mirrored the City of Dallas budget discussion, with a proposal to trim $25 million rejected despite at least one board member speaking out against increased spending by DART.
“This is unsustainable growth … and it does not address the issues associated with the excess sales tax being just swallowed up every budget session by this agency for things that maybe aren’t necessary to the detriment of the 13 cities that are contributing the funds,” said Mark Enoch, per The Dallas Morning News.