Cost of state flights rises after audit shows money loss
SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois Department of Transportation has begun charging state agencies more for the use of state aircraft after an audit found the department wasn't recouping its aeronautics costs.
Officials told the Legislative Audit Commission Tuesday that a one-way flight between Chicago and Springfield now costs $100 per state employee -- about the rate that would be charged by a discount private carrier.
That's up from $60, but still far less than the $270 Auditor General William Holland said would be necessary for IDOT to cover its true costs.
"It's a first step," acting Transportation Secretary Milton Sees said. "I didn't want to double it, but I wanted to make it more than a 50 percent increase."
The commission ordered Holland's audit, completed earlier this year, after a 2005 review of state flights by The Associated Press. It showed the administration of Gov. Rod Blagojevich used the state plane nearly 30 percent more than his predecessor's.
Mostly traveling between the capital and Chicago, some top officials flew as much as once every 2 1/2 days on average.
IDOT charged 41 cents a mile per passenger for those flights -- a rate that hadn't increased since 1981 -- while Holland's audit showed it should charge $1.85 per rider mile, or $270, to pay its bills.
Holland's report pointed out that United Airlines offers a state rate of $140 and no more than $204 if seats are available. Big Sky Airlines charged $109 before it discontinued service in June -- but the Springfield Airport Authority subsidized that rate by as much as $160,000 a month.
Susan Shea, IDOT's director of aeronautics, said the state's new rate of 68 cents per rider mile is meant to roughly match the discount carrier price of about $100.
The agency maintains four turboprop, nine-passenger airplanes that run three daily round-trip shuttle flights between Springfield and Chicago and two six-passenger helicopters, along with other craft.
IDOT has argued that providing aircraft is a state government service not meant to pay for itself. Holland countered that under that logic, the agency shouldn't charge any fees.
Members of the audit commission backed Holland's view that IDOT should charge agencies the actual cost of flights so that state officials have an accurate picture of where their money is going.
"It's very important that we take a look not so much at what the costs are, but to make sure that those costs are allotted to the agencies that are using the facilities," said Sen. Dale Risinger, R-Peoria.
The audit also criticized IDOT's method of calculating operational costs. Auditors found that in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2006, the agency counted $3.6 million in costs, but excluded $1.4 million for such items as management salaries, aircraft depreciation, training and insurance that should have been counted.
Holland's team determined that during a four-year period, the real cost of operating state planes is $9.81 per mile, a price tag that likely has escalated because of rising fuel costs.
It was the $9.81-per-mile figure that The Associated Press used when it reported in June that Blagojevich was spending $5,800 per round trip for almost daily commutes between Springfield and Chicago from mid-May through mid-June. Under intense criticism, Blagojevich halted the practice.