Coast RTA to undergo performance audit examining troubled past

Federal auditors are headed to the Grand Strand next week to begin a thorough review of Coast RTA’s financial management procedures under the previous administration, and those troubled years that landed the agency on the state’s high risk list.

Brian Piascik, who eventually took over the transit agency after former CEO Myers Rollins was fired in 2014, said he hopes this will be the last review of the agency’s financial practices under the former regime.

“I’m sure there will be findings,” Piascik said. “Having been here a year, we’re digging up stuff all the time.”

Piascik said he is not seeing any evidence of wrongdoing, just bad decision making. He said the federal audit will shore up their efforts to make better decisions in the future.

Auditors will review fiscal years 2013 through 2015, but also agreed to examine the first nine months of 2016 which Piascik is betting will show tremendous changes in how the agency operates.

“I hope this will be our last time looking backward, and we can start moving forward,” Piascik said. “Even though it’s going to be tough, I’m really looking forward to getting through that process.”

Auditors will spend about four days at the agency next week, then return at a later date for two to four weeks to test how financial transactions are conducted.

Horry County Council officials are hoping the audit is completed before their fall retreat so they can be presented with the findings before making future budget decisions.

“What that does is give us a little ammunition (that) everything is clean and moving forward, and the direction (they) are going now is where we needed to always be,” said Mark Lazarus, Horry County Council chairman.

“Then we’ll start talking about critical needs for future funding,” Lazarus said.

The transit authority is operating on a $4.5 million budget this year, with more than $1 million in funding from Horry County.

The goal is to eventually put the bus system on a multiyear budget, which would allow Coast RTA to stabilize and plan and fund long-term projects.

The agency was relieved of its status as “high risk” from the state transportation department in January, a ranking imposed in 2011 after the agency’s previous director botched a bus shelter and signage program that cost more than $375,000.

Created in the mid-2000s, Coast’s shelter project was initially expected to cost $1 million to construct more than 70 shelters along bus routes in Horry and Georgetown counties.

Most of the shelters were never constructed and several were sold to the City of Myrtle Beach in 2006 to be used for school buses instead of Coast passengers.

Frustrated with Coast’s lack of progress, the S.C. Department of Transportation canceled the shelter initiative in December 2013 and Rollins was fired four months later. He is now suing the state transportation department and Coast RTA.

Consultants hired by the Federal Transit Administration will begin next week looking at how financial decisions were made during the 2013-2015 period, how funding was allocated and how cash from fares was handled.

The financial management oversight review will look at how federal funds were spent, as well as take a compressive look at how all of the finances are handled.

“It’s less about auditing numbers, and more about how we are making financial decisions,” Piascik said.

The management audit comes at the request of the county council, which asked for a full accounting of the books in addition to the outside audit that was completed after Piascik took over the agency, Lazarus said.

“It was very important for us to make sure, and we’re going that many years back so it really will clean up the process,” Lazarus said.

In addition to the shelter issues, Lazarus said buses were not running on time and too many vehicles experienced mechanical problems that put them out of service.

“It was just in a mess over there, but I think Brian has come in and done a great job in turning it around and moving in a positive direction,” Lazarus said.

Added Councilman Johnny Vaught: “We still have some disbelievers out there, but you guys have gone a long ways towards turning it around.”

This story was originally published August 26, 2016 at 12:50 PM with the headline "Coast RTA to undergo performance audit examining troubled past."