Today the Legislative Audit Commission held a hearing to review the audit conducted on the Southwest Light Rail project. The report covered the Metropolitan Council’s plans for the $750 million it has requested to complete the project; Metropolitan Council accountability for construction problems; and transparency about project changes that caused increased costs and schedule delays. The Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) conducted the audit after the legislature unanimously voted to put the project under review due to cost overruns and delays.  

Legislative Audit Commission Co-Chair Mark Koran (R- North Branch) released the following statement:  

“One thing is clear after the audit today: the wasteful spending and obfuscation by the Metropolitan Council during the planning and construction of Southwest Light Rail, and their slowness to comply with the OLA requests, means their time wasting our taxpayers’ dollars should come to an end. There is bipartisan agreement they failed to protect the taxpayers, and bipartisan agreement something needs to change.  

“I’ll be taking the next step to re-introduce legislation to end the Met Council and put oversight of these major projects where it belongs – with locally elected city, county, and legislative bodies that must meet necessary transparency and accountability measures.”