State Auditor Claire McCaskill has released an audit of the state’s passenger airplane fleet, finding the fleet is too large, not suited for current needs, and is costly. The state has eight passenger planes whcih are operated by the Office of Administration, the State Highway Patrol, the Transportation Department, and the Department of Conservation. The audit finds unnecessary costs resulted from planes being used to fly commissioners to and from various meeting locations and by chartering expensive planes when state-owned planes were available and going unused. McCaskill points the finger of blame primarily at the Transportation and Conservation Departments for their use of taxpayer dollars. She recommends a uniform statewide policy be set up to determine what is appropriate use of state planes.
