Dallas

Audit: TxDOT Losing Millions in Unpaid Damage Claims

The Texas Department of Transportation is out millions of dollars thanks to drivers damaging state property, according to an internal audit.

TxDOT filed approximately $57 million worth of claims for damage done to its roadways from 2013 to 2015. However, the agency only recovered about $31 million from those responsible. According to the report, that is in part due to employees who failed to follow up on them.

"No clear process has been established by the districts to ensure damage claims are properly prioritized, assigned and processed by maintenance staff," auditors wrote.

A sample of damage claims was selected for each of the 25 districts. The audit found that 88 percent of districts had damage claims identified that were neither completed nor submitted for processing, while 52 percent of crashes did not have a damage claim initiated on them.

NBC 5 filed a public records request to look at the numbers for North Texas. The Dallas TxDOT district has approximately $932,419 worth of unpaid damage claims, while the Fort Worth district has approximately $75,000.

In response to questions about the damage claims in North Texas, TxDOT said, "These claims have been billed by TxDOT, but not yet collected from the identified parties due to a variety of possible delays, including pending insurance claims, lack of funds, relocation or other ongoing circumstances beyond the due diligence of TxDOT. These claims remain ongoing and may still be recovered with assistance from the Office of the Attorney General."

The review of fiscal year 2015 covered the time between Oct. 14 and April 15. According to TxDOT, the agency did recover $1.5 million in claims for the Dallas district during FY2015.

Going forward, the agency said it is taking steps to improve and expedite its claims process.

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