AUSTIN, Texas — Texas employees cannot find millions of dollars' worth of state equipment.
Items that were paid for with tax money but that agency employees don’t always keep track of.
The KVUE Defenders obtained data from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts detailing inventory items state agencies reported missing or stolen from 2018 to 2022. They discovered state agencies lost more than $32 million worth of inventory. $855,000 of that was listed as stolen.
The data revealed 6,371 lost computers, appliances, golf carts, lawn mowers and tractors. It showed another 332 items as stolen, including two Chevrolet trucks and seven all-terrain vehicles.
Agencies are required to report stolen items to law enforcement.
Tech made up most of the missing items, with more than $1.3 million worth of computers, monitors, iPads and tablets missing. The data also showed another $1.2 million worth of server systems and components absent.
Also on the list: forklifts, loaders and storage tanks.
“They're [the agencies] supposed to know where their property is. They're supposed to have controls in place. They're supposed to have security in place and procedures on how to manage their property,” Rob Coleman, the director of Fiscal Management for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, said.
By law, state agencies must report lost or stolen inventory items to the state comptroller every year.
Some agencies show more items than others and, generally, larger agencies have more assets disappear. The two largest state agencies in Texas reported the most, making up more than a third of the lost or stolen items.
Comptroller records show a total of 1,877 lost or stolen items with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). That totals $10,976,064.76 and included large items like a box spreader and crash attenuators.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission reported missing exactly $9,414,919.43 worth of tax-paid items, like a Brandit Wood Chipper.
“$32 million is certainly a lot of money. I think if you look at the state as a whole, the amount of and the value of the assets across all of state government, $1 billion is what we report in our financial report. So, while it is significant, you know, it's small compared to the overall number,” Coleman said.
The amount of missing items would equate to less than 1% of the total budgets for the same timeframe.
The KVUE Defenders asked Coleman if taxpayers should be concerned.
“Well, I think, you know, the taxpayers expect the state and the employees to be good stewards of the property that we're entrusted to. And, I think, you know, they should be held accountable for that,” Coleman said.
Accountability comes through audits. The comptroller’s office can stop the agency’s flow of money if the agency fails to keep track of its inventory.
“We expect accountability out of our leadership and out of our state agencies, and we expect taxpayer dollars to be used wisely,” Adrian Shelley, director of the nonprofit group Public Citizen, said.
Public Citizen focuses on consumer advocacy and serves as a government watchdog group.
“Some of these items are huge, you know, vehicles and pieces of heavy equipment. Somebody has got to have stewardship over those big items. And our leadership at our agencies ought to be paying attention to things that are that big,” Shelley said.
Deputy Chief Press Officer of Texas Health and Human Services José Andrés Araiza told the KVUE Defenders that their items were not actually missing.
“We worked with our asset management team to determine the assigned location of the missing items. From there, we spoke to each program area and asked them to re-check their inventory. Inventory specialists use handheld scanning devices to track and input the assets into our system. We’re finding there is a high-rate of user error with these handheld devices,” Araiza wrote in an email to the Defenders.
Araiza also wrote that the agency is retraining its staff on how to properly catalog items, and it is reinforcing why it is important to avoid misreporting to the comptroller.
“We’re also working on obtaining the supporting documentation to confirm the disposition of older items no longer in use. Areas in need of additional training include our information technology department, the state supported living centers in Abilene and Brenham and state hospitals in Vernon and Terrell,” Araiza wrote.
The Defenders asked the agency to show the items were found, but they could not provide proof.
“HHSC does not have records responsive to your request. The requested records have passed the records retentions date and have been destroyed. This public information request is now closed,” Araiza wrote in another email.
“Any amount of waste or lost resources. You know, it's just it represents dollars that we could have spent on another state priority,” Shelley said.
Both Texas Health and Human Services and TxDOT refused to go on camera. Instead, press offices for each department simply provided emailed statements.
“As a state agency with more than 13,000 employees and 53,000 assets, it is important for TxDOT to maintain a robust tracking system that is updated as items are located, taken out of service or lost. We continuously strive to improve our system and judiciously track any missing items,” Adam Hammons, the TxDOT media relations director, wrote.
Hammons also showed $3.424 million worth of missing property was found and updated in the system. Another $462 thousand worth was scrapped due to damage and wasn't missing.
“Every agency head is held accountable to be responsible for the property. They are property managers at each agency. That is their job, right? Is to be good stewards of the property,” Coleman said.
Editor’s note: The amounts shown are acquisition costs and do not account for depreciation. This story has been updated to show some missing TxDOT equipment was found.