Updated: 5:44 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012 | Posted: 5:44 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012
Audit concludes state of Ohio owns too many planes
By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio —
The state of Ohio owns too many planes and lacks any centralized system for tracking their use and expense, according to a report released Thursday by state Auditor David Yost that recommends Ohio develop a single cost center for all expenses related to executive branch travel on state aircraft.
The report also recommends the state either find another purpose for its underused five-person helicopter or sell it.
Yost said he didn't issue any call for money to be repaid, since the state lacks guidelines for the proper use of its aircraft.
The audit says Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor took three flights last year that included routes meant to divert to the Canton Airport near her home, and Ohio House Speaker William Batchelder used a state plane to go from a private event to the Statehouse in Columbus.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/ap/ap/aerospace/audit-concludes-state-of-ohio-owns-too-many-planes/nR4w9/
http://www.daytondailynews.com/ap/ap/aerospace/audit-concludes-state-of-ohio-owns-too-many-planes/nR4w9/
State might delay planned letter grades for schools
Top legislators cite attendance-data probe as concern
By Lydia Coutré
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Friday September 7, 2012 7:24 AM
Plans to create a new rating system for Ohio schools should be delayed until the investigation into whether districts altered attendance data produces answers, top state legislators are saying.
“The timing of this is such that I don’t know how you go forward with any degree of public confidence in any system as long as this cloud of uncertainty is hanging over us,” said Rep. Gerald Stebelton, chairman of the House Education Committee.
The Lancaster Republican and other legislators have been working on an A-F system that will give districts a more-identifiable letter grade instead of the current labels that range from “excellent with distinction” down to “academic emergency.”
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/09/07/state-might-delay-planned-letter-grades-for-schools.html
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/09/07/state-might-delay-planned-letter-grades-for-schools.html
No fault on trips in state planes
Guidelines don’t spell out when they can be used, auditor finds
By Joe Vardon
The Columbus Dispatch Friday September 7, 2012 7:31 AM
The flights weren’t illegal, but they weren’t good ideas, either.
Those are the verdicts issued yesterday by Republican state Auditor Dave Yost, whose audit of state-aircraft use in 2011 showed that Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor and House Speaker William G. Batchelder both took trips on state planes that might have been outside the purview of official business.
But Yost stopped short of formally accusing either high-ranking GOP official of misusing a state plane, citing a lack of specific guidelines in Ohio of what constitutes proper and improper use. He said the only guideline the state has is on the request form to use one of the state’s three executive aircraft — “shall be used for official business only.”
“What the report doesn’t say is that (Taylor’s and Batchelder’s trips) were well-advised decisions,” Yost told The Dispatch.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/09/07/no-fault-on-trips-in-state-planes.html
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/09/07/no-fault-on-trips-in-state-planes.html
Posted: 6:05 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012
Auditor finds lack of controls over state aircraft use
Staff Writer, Dayton Daily News
Ohio Auditor Dave Yost said Thursday that the state has “nonexistent standards” for the use of public aircraft, making it impossible to tell whether trips in 2011 by Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor and Ohio House Speaker William Batchelder were for proper public purposes.
In an audit of the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation, Yost said there were no findings for recovery “due to the lack of guidelines for the proper use of state aircraft.” He recommended the creation of policies spelling out what constitutes proper use.
Taylor and Batchelder, R-Medina, have reimbursed the state for the cost of the questioned flights, Yost said. Taylor made three trips that either picked her up or dropped her off at Akron-Canton Airport, near her home, while Batchelder used a state plane to go from a private event to the Statehouse.
State official calls for more rules on use of planes
Published: Fri, September 7, 2012 @ 12:00 a.m.
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
The state has too many airplanes and too few rules for their use.
That’s according to a new report by state Auditor Dave Yost, who launched the audit after news reports about plane use by Gov. John Kasich and at the request of Rep. Matt Lundy, a Democrat from Elyria.
The audit does not pinpoint any wrongdoing or issue findings for recovery, but only because there are no guidelines or rules for plane use by state officials. Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor and GOP House Speaker Bill Batchelder were named in the report — Taylor for several trips from her home near the Canton airport and Batchelder to return to the Statehouse for a voting session following a private event in Youngstown. Both reimbursed the state, at a cost of about $1,000 for the flights.
“Some other states have clear rules for the use of their state planes. Ohio does not,” Yost said in a released statement. “While planes may play a valuable role in conducting state business, the state ought to define that role.”
http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/sep/07/state-official-calls-for-more-rules-on-u/
http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/sep/07/state-official-calls-for-more-rules-on-u/
Thursday, September 6, 2012
No rules really apply to the use of state planes
Ohio's auditor says there's really nothing to audit in the use of planes by top government officials
by WKSU's STATEHOUSE CORRESPONDENT JO INGLES
When questions about Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor's plane usage arose last year, Auditor David Yost decided to take a look at whether her trips were justified or made for convenience at taxpayer's expense. Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles reports on what Yost discovered as a result of his audit.
Last winter, Democratic state lawmaker Matt Lundy questioned how Republican Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor and House Speaker Bill Batchelder were using state planes.
Lundy claimed the two took the planes for personal convenience, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill.
Yost: Ohio Needs Clear Rules for State Aircraft Use
Hannah Report 9/6/12
An audit of state aircraft use has determined that Ohio has too many planes and is in need of new standards that clearly state "policies and procedures related to the usage of state planes for executive travel." Ohio Auditor Dave Yost released the report Thursday after his office reviewed the Ohio Department of Transportation's (ODOT) Office of Aviation.
The audit started after Rep. Matt Lundy (D-Elyria) filed a request with Yost's office. That request came after news sources reported that the use of state planes had increased compared to former Gov. Ted Strickland. (See The Hannah Report, 12/22/11.)
The audit stated that Yost intended to look at aircraft use over a span of two years, from Jan. 1, 2010 through Dec. 31, 2011. However, during the audit Yost's office discovered that records of the Office of Aviation are only required to be retained for the current year and the year prior. So the audit only reviews aircraft use in 2011. http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=190491
An audit of state aircraft use has determined that Ohio has too many planes and is in need of new standards that clearly state "policies and procedures related to the usage of state planes for executive travel." Ohio Auditor Dave Yost released the report Thursday after his office reviewed the Ohio Department of Transportation's (ODOT) Office of Aviation.
The audit started after Rep. Matt Lundy (D-Elyria) filed a request with Yost's office. That request came after news sources reported that the use of state planes had increased compared to former Gov. Ted Strickland. (See The Hannah Report, 12/22/11.)
The audit stated that Yost intended to look at aircraft use over a span of two years, from Jan. 1, 2010 through Dec. 31, 2011. However, during the audit Yost's office discovered that records of the Office of Aviation are only required to be retained for the current year and the year prior. So the audit only reviews aircraft use in 2011. http://www.hannah.com/DesktopDefaultPublic.aspx?type=hns&id=190491
Ohio has no objective standard for what constitutes proper use of state aircraft, Auditor Dave Yost said Thursday in a report that reviewed flights by Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, House Speaker Bill Batchelder and other state officials.
The determination came through an audit of the Department of Transportation's Office of Aviation, which produced no findings for recovery because of a lack of guidelines for how state planes are permitted to be used.
The audit also concluded the state has too many planes and fragmented accounting for their costs.
"When performing our testing on whether the purpose of using the state aircraft for executive travel may be improper, we found no objective standard or legal basis on which to make this determination," according to the audit.
The audit was conducted after Rep. Matt Lundy (D-Elyria) requested it last December following criticism of Lt. Gov. Taylor's use of a state plane, which picked her up and dropped her off at the Akron-Canton Airport near her home. (See Gongwer Ohio Report, December 22, 2011)
"The plane shouldn't be diverting to locations so that it's convenient for someone to jump on the plane," Mr. Lundy said in an interview. "The plane obviously can't be used like a taxi or a limousine. I like to think that whatever's taken place in the in past, folks now understand that you need to be more responsible in the way that it's used, but we still need to spell out what those guidelines are and what those restrictions are."
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