CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A performance study of maintenance organizations within the state Division of Highways show most did not meet the agency’s requirement that 70 percent of their allocations be spent on core maintenance projects.
The report was presented to a group of state lawmakers Wednesday during interim committee meetings at the state capitol. The Legislative Auditor’s Office was asked to conduct the review after concerns were raised earlier this year about highway maintenance.
John Sylvia, the director of the Performance Evaluation and Research Division in the Legislative Auditor’s Office, said 50 of the DOH’s 58 maintenance organizations that cover the state’s 55 counties failed to meet the mark.
“They did not meet the 70 percent criteria,” Sylvia said.
County highway core maintenance covers projects like mowing, snow removal, ice control, patching and ditching. Sylvia said there were a few DOH districts where no counties met the requirement while a few counties like Wood, Pleasants, Hampshire, Mineral, Barbour, Mercer and Wyoming met the criteria several years in a row.
State Highway Engineer Aaron Gillespie told lawmakers it’s important to understand that not meeting the 70 percent requirement doesn’t mean money wasn’t spent on maintenance jobs.
“Each of the 55 counties received their allocation and all of that money was spent in that county in each given year,” Gillespie said. “As a matter of fact, as the charts will show, more money was spent than allocated in those counties because most of the time we had to go back and put money into them.”
Gillespie said non-core maintenance projects, like repaving projects, are also important and many counties spent money in those areas. He said no money was left unspent.
“It’s (what is spent) is always greater than the allocation,” Gillespie told lawmakers.
The DOH said some counties have missed the 70 percent core maintenance mark because money had to be diverted for flood recovery. The agency also points to accounting issues, the impact on roads because of the increase in the natural gas industry and staffing issues.
Gillespie said there remain many DOH openings today. He said fast food workers can make more in places like Monongalia County.
“I think you can go to work for Chick-fil-A for $12 an hour. Quite frankly, that’s some of our entry level operators,” Gillespie said. “We’ve given them increases but we’ve got this budget, this pie, that is only so big.”
The state has allocated more than $100 million in new money in recent months for core maintenance issues.