Legislative watchdogs demanded answers Thursday about how state dollars were committedto propping up an airline and resolving a contract dispute over the construction of a new Metrorail line in the Washington suburbs.
Members of the General Assembly?s Joint Audit Committee remained frustrated by the absence of Robert Flanagan, state secretary of transportation under Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich.
Flanagan had a scheduling conflict that prevented him from attending the hearing in Annapolis, state officials said. The agenda included the review of the audit of Flanagan?s office and the Maryland Aviation Administration.
Lawmakers questioned why the state department of transportation allowed the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority to hire a consultant using $500,000 that was owed to the state. WMATA is disputing a contractor?s charge of almost $30 million spent during the construction of a 3.1-mile Metrorail extension in Prince George?s County. David Fleming, chief financial officer for MDOT, said the consultant was hired to draft a comparison of the contracted services to the actual results.
“Nobody has more contract bidding experience than MDOT,” said Sen. Patrick Hogan, D-Montgomery County. “You didn?t have anyone in house who could do that?”
The committee also listened to the results of an audit of the Maryland Aviation Administration that discovered a $5.5 million subsidy paid to one airline to ensure it continued to operate flights out of Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport. The audit accuses the administration of violating state budget rules by not disclosing the deal to the General Assembly?s budget writing committees.
In a written response to the audit in October, Flanagan said disclosure of the deal could jeopardize the relationship with the airline that provides the only non-stop flights to London?s Heathrow airport.
“We do hundreds of deals in this state that require some legislative approval,” Hogan said. “It?s not a private business … the airport is owned by the taxpayers.”
