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PHOENIX - After digging into an Arizona agency that was told years ago that a lack of record keeping is putting taxpayer money at risk of misuse, it finally scheduled a training session with the state to solve the long-standing record-keeping issues.
Basically this comes down to how state agencies use your money – taxpayer money.
If they spend it, the detailed receipts are necessary to track every dollar. In this case, the state auditor general says that's not happening.
Arizona is a state of beauty with national parks, desert landscapes and pine trees.
The Office of Tourism exists to promote Arizona with taxpayer dollars, but, in a lengthy report from the state auditor general, it found 2 years ago the office was not following state law and putting "public monies at potential risk of misuse."
"That's a big problem," said Dave Wells with the Grand Canyon Institute, a nonprofit that researches government use of taxpayer money.
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A key issue highlighted by the audit: a simple lack of detailed receipts.
"It's really important to make sure the money is spent for its intended purpose," he said.
In one instance, the Office of Tourism paid more than $15,000 for airfare, housing and tours for five journalists, so they could promote positive coverage of what our state offers. One of the tours was at the Superstition Mountains.
Again, the office was unable to come up with detailed receipts of the food they ate, the hotels they stayed at, or any other promotional items they received during those trips.
After the audit two years ago, the office said they dispute public monies were at potential risk of misuse, but said they’d start itemizing receipts to follow state law. This April, the auditor general says they looked at four more recent events, and found yet again, they were "missing itemized receipts."
"That's not usual. Usually, they do address the issue and the fact they didn't choose to do it, and this was under the last administration, the Ducey administration, was disturbing," Wells said.
After FOX 10 reached out, a spokesperson said the office scheduled a training session to make sure they’re following the rules – two years later.
It's important to note that a new head of the Office of Tourism was appointed this year under the Katie Hobbs administration.
FOX 10 asked for an interview about why it’s taken two years to address what the auditor called a "potential misuse of taxpayer money," but they declined the request.