The Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation, or PART, will hold a board meeting Wednesday to discuss its third party contracts. Board members will also likely be breathing a sigh of relief, after the resolution of an accounting mixup with federal grant money.
Brent McKinney, executive director of PART, says the organization used money from the wrong grant accounts, and caused two of those accounts to be overdrawn. The organization had to pay back nearly $720,000 to the federal government, but ultimately that money was returned to the correct account ... minus a $24,000 interest charge.
McKinney is very happy that the accounts are settled and their new, approved accounting systems are in place. "It was a very stressful time, as you might imagine, whenever the federal government knocks on your door and says you've overdrawn one of your accounts." But he says they were able to find where they made their mistakes and correct them.
McKinney says passenger service wasn't affected by the accounting mixup, and that the experience has made the organization stronger as a result.
PART carries roughly 40,000 riders each month over eight counties in the Triad. The regional bus system is funded by roughly $15 million from federal, state, county and city sources in addition to rider fares.
