JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway issued her office’s monthly report detailing Transportation Development District (TDD) compliance with financial reporting laws. The report shows 17% of Transportation Development Districts failed to disclose legally required financial information on how taxpayer dollars are being managed.
Out of more than 200 TDDs in Missouri, 174 have fiscal years that end in December, which means they are required to submit annual financial reports to the State Auditor’s Office by the end of June. Of the 174 TDDs required to submit reports, 30 (17%) did not comply.
“My audits have identified a number of concerning practices among the state’s transportation districts. Holding back information on how they’re managing public dollars is certainly inappropriate and in this case it’s also a violation of the law,” Auditor Galloway said. “This repeated failure to turn over basic financial information calls into question whether the money is being spent appropriately and in a manner than truly benefits the public.”
TDDs are typically funded by sales taxes, with the intent of encouraging new transportation-related projects or funding transportation-related maintenance and improvements in a specific area. State law requires TDDs to submit annual financial reports to the State Auditor’s Office within six months of the end of their fiscal year. TDDs that fail to provide this information may be assessed a fine of $500 per day by the Department of Revenue, with the fine assessment beginning 30 days after the report is due.
Financial reports received by the State Auditor’s Office are searchable online.
The full list of districts that submitted financial reports and those that failed to comply is sorted by county and included in the full monthly Transportation Development District report, located online here.
