Auditor wants you to report fraud, waste and abuse

By Hector Balderas

As New Mexico’s state auditor, I am responsible for the regulatory oversight of $60 billion in governmental assets. I’m the watchdog for New Mexico’s taxpayer dollars and aggressively investigate fraud, waste and abuse. I join New Mexicans around the state who expect transparency and accountability in government and demand their tax dollars be spent properly in their communities.

Unfortunately, government agencies or workers may not always live up to those expectations. In order to restore public confidence, citizens must be given an opportunity to report fraud and shed light on possible corruption.

For this reason, I’m instituting New Mexico’s first toll-free fraud hotline to persuade New Mexicans to actively report government fraud, waste and abuse. This hotline allows concerned citizens to report suspicious or fraudulent activities anonymously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They can do so by calling 1-866-OSA-FRAUD or by logging on to osafraud.org.

The fraud hotline will empower people to fight fraud, waste and abuse by providing them a tool to anonymously report fraudulent activities. If the activity warrants further investigation, my office will complete a thorough inquiry and recommend further action.

There are many forms of fraudulent activity people can report, from stealing or embezzling of government funds to waste and abuse. Examples include government workers using government property for personal use, violating government contracting processes by giving contracts to friends or family members, and stealing public funds. By partnering with New Mexicans across the state and encouraging the reporting of misdeeds, I firmly believe we can limit the financial scandals that have plagued New Mexico and save our taxpayers millions of dollars.

Other states have successfully implemented fraud hotlines. Recent studies have shown that having a fraud hotline in place when fraud occurs can cut the amount of funds lost in half. To put this in perspective, currently our state budget is approximately $6 billion. If even a small percentage is being lost to fraud, waste, and abuse, that can mean that millions of dollars are not available to fund our children’s educations, our roads and our communities. If we can drastically reduce that percentage through aggressive oversight and community action, we will literally be pouring money back into our communities.

Citizens across New Mexico work hard for their money and they expect that their tax dollars will be spent on services that will benefit their communities. It is important that we ensure this by working toward increased transparency, greater accountability and shared responsibility. The fraud hotline is one step toward these worthy goals. Together we can stamp out fraud, waste and abuse.

Balderas is New Mexico’s state auditor.