State Auditor Tom Schweich gave the Missouri Governor’s office a rating of “fair” after an audit.

According to the report, Gov. Nixon continues to ignore advice given to him by state auditors of both political parties regarding operating costs for personnel and what were termed wasteful travel expenses. Nixon spent more than $602,000 on travel expenses paid for by the taxpayers for himself and his staff.

The report is also critical of the governor’s paying for his office’s expenses from appropriations to other agencies. Schweich says the governor’s office would have spent more than its appropriation in each of the three fiscal years audited had other agencies not picked up the tab.

Gov. Nixon is a Democrat. Schweich is a Republican.

Here are more findings from the audit report released Wednesday.

Fourteen agencies funded all or part of the salaries for several employees of the governor’s office for a total of $770,000, and the Office of Administration (OA) paid $32,000 to compensate an “advisor on education” to the governor. OA employees do not separately account for and report the time spent performing tasks for the governor’s office and mansion.

In the first 30 months of the current administration’s tenure, employees of the governor’s office flew 334 days on state planes, costing approximately $565,000, 96 percent of which was paid by various state agencies. State agencies also paid approximately $37,000 for other travel expenses for employees of the governor’s office and various other operating expenses of the governor’s office totaling approximately $406,000. This situation has been noted in previous reports from Auditor Schweich and his Democrat predecessor.

The governor’s office does not evaluate whether commercial flights would be more economical than state planes for out-of-state trips. Flight costs for 19 out-of-state flights totaled approximately $92,800, which included $15,630 for wait time costs and $8,570 for pilot expense. The governor’s office could have saved approximately $15,500 if individuals had flown commercial flights on two trips to Washington D.C.

Hotel charges exceeded recommended rates per state policy, meal charges exceeded per diem rates, and airline tickets were not purchased at least 21 days before the flight. One employee, domiciled in St. Louis, stayed at a hotel in Jefferson City approximately 150 nights at a cost of almost $12,000 when more economic alternatives existed.

To view the complete report, Citizens Summary and audit rating scale, click here.