Atlanta officials push back on MARTA claims of flawed audit, Rep. Silcox asks more details

ATLANTA — Georgia Rep. Deborah Silcox, chair of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Overview Committee in the Georgia General Assembly, is asking the City of Atlanta, and a third-party auditing company, for answers after a recent report accused the transit agency of overcharging the city for $70 million.

Channel 2 Action News previously reported that while city officials stood by the audit’s findings, MARTA not only disagreed, but said the audit itself was flawed.

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In the days after the audit was released, the MARTA Board of Directors met and discussed the report, but also said they were disappointed by certain concerns they’d wanted included in the report that were left on the cutting room floor.

A letter shared with Channel 2 Action News by a MARTA spokeswoman said auditing firm Mauldin & Jenkins had used a flawed methodology when calculating what they thought service costs between 2017 and 2019 for bus rides should have been.

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“MARTA informed the City and Mauldin & Jenkins of their flawed methodology and is disappointed that our responses to the audit which were provided to both parties were not included or referenced,” MARTA said in a statement.

Additionally, Silcox sent a letter to the MARTA Board of Directors expressing concerns both of the audit itself and the lack of inclusion of “several critical issues raised by MARTA” that were not addressed in the Mauldin & Jenkins report.

Silcox’s letter also says that she found it troubling that MARTA’s responses to the audit, specifically those about potential flaws in the methodology, were “disregarded in the audit’s final report,” as related to bus charges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result, Silcox asked that MARTA’s board contract a separate firm, KPMG, to conduct an independent review of the Mauldin & Jenkins report to ensure the findings are accurate and reliable.

Silcox suggested that the board have KPMG perform the review as it would fit “within the larger scope of KPMG’s current ongoing audit on behalf of the MARTA Oversight Committee,” of which she is the chair.

Despite the claims by MARTA, and the request from Silcox, Michael Smith, on behalf of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ office, told Channel 2 Action News that “the audit speaks for itself, and the scope and parameters were agreed upon by both parties after protracted pushback by MARTA. However, Mayor Dickens draws circles and looks forward to engaging with MARTA leadership to execute all recommendations with urgency for the good of Atlantans and the entire region.”

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