DOT Lashing

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- Members of the board of the Georgia Department of Transportation received a tongue lashing from the Senate Transportation Committee angry over a move by the board to change its accounting methods.

Board members voted last month to move to an accrual method rather than the current cashed-based system in which the money has to be in the bank in order to enter into a contract agreement.  Under the new plan, projects could be approved based on expected revenue. The change would take affect July 1 pending a legal opinion by Attorney General Thurbert Baker.

"We got to work together to solve this transportation problem, and we don't need people going renegade against the laws of the state of Geogia," Sen. Ross Tolleson (R-Perry) told board chairman Bill Kuhlke.

Committee members complain the move could jeopardized the state's AAA bond rating.

Kuhlke, who voted against the new accounting method, apologized for the board's actions and says members will revisit the issue.

"We didn't do a good job in really exploring what all the implications of this might be...we did it too hastily," he says.

The board meets in a special called meeting Friday afternoon and where it could vote to rescind it's actions.