David Harper, inspector general for the City of Albuquerque, said in November of 2017 he discovered the Albuquerque Rapid Transit project had numerous non-compliance issues, regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Harper said an independent auditor provided a 30-page report that confirmed the Build Your Dreams company, who manufactured the buses, met the federal guidelines for at least 60 percent of bus guidelines.
Harper said he contacted the mayor’s office and the city council in January, stating he would be initiating a formal review focused on “funding and quality oversight.”
Part of the inspector’s review will be to “validate that the (audit) report is accurate.”
All BYD manufactured buses for the ART project not up to code had to be sent back to BYD, Harper said.
“The city should not take title of the buses or pay for them until the busses meet the city’s requirements — (presently) BYD still has title and the city has not paid any funds to BYD,” Harper said.
The City of Albuquerque is in process of having bus platforms modified to meet compliance, he said.
“I want to ensure that none of those costs are passed to the taxpayer,” Harper said.
Federal funding concerns from the Federal Transit Authority are another major concern for the city, Harper said, stating that the overall cost of the ART project is $130 million — $75 million is supposed to come from federal funding.
“A letter received from the FTA explains there is no guarantee the city will ever get the federal money” and the city is relying on these funds even though the federal government has not yet signed the grant agreement guaranteeing these funds, Harper said.
Another issue Harper raised is that President Donald Trump has stopped all federally funded transit projects, which could directly impact ART.
Although the ART project was initiated prior to Trump’s administration, the city would still be eligible for the original funding. Adjustments or changes made by the city after the current administration took office are not guaranteed and are at risk of not being funded, Harper said.
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One of the bigger issues is determining how the ART project has been funded and how those funds will be secured since the federal grant portion is not guaranteed, Harper said.
“I don’t know that the city has ever experienced a situation where they fronted the funds for a project with the expectation that the federal government would reimburse the funds, and then failed to do that,” Harper said. “I don’t think this will be good for the city, so hopefully the city will eventually receive the funds.”
Harper wants to affirm that his office’s review is not an investigation at this time. However, if it is revealed that a criminal or civil law has been broken, an investigation could be warranted.
Michele Arbogast is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
