Auditor: State employees still misusing vehicles

LINCOLN--Nebraska's auditor says state employees are still widely misusing State-owned vehicles for personal use.

Auditor Mike Foley's office issued a 38-page report Wednesday detailing what he says is a rampant overuse of the roughly 1,200 vehicles controlled by the Transportation Services Bureau.

As described in his report, Foley's audit team tested a sample of 45 TSB vehicles. Through GPS tracking devices, the examination revealed widespread personal use of the cars to places such as restaurants, medical facilities, residences of relatives and many others that had nothing to do with the duties of the drivers.

Foley's news release says one Department of Natural Resources employee took multiple trips to a personal vineyard and winery. Another Emergency Medical Services Specialist for DHHS drove a State-owned vehicle over 1,000 miles for personal use.

"The law forbids 'any personal use whatsoever' of State-owned automobiles," Foley said.

Foley's office also touched on the amount of misappropriation of store rebates belonging to the employees' agencies. Multiple employees were tracked to be redeeming Menard's rebates through their companies for personal purchases.

This is the second straight year Foley has issued a report outlining what he says is rampant misuse of state vehicles.