Auditors told a Colorado state legislative panel last week that procedures should be tightened for collecting and distributing state highway funds.

The amount collected through state fuel taxes, vehicle registration fees and traffic fines dropped about $4 million between 2002 and 2003, to $736 million, the Rocky Mountain News reported. That amount is attributed to a decline in total gallons of fuel sold as well as a drop in total license and registration fees collected.

A recent audit of the state’s handling of the Highway Users Tax Fund estimated that about $1.6 million more might have been collected if the Colorado Department of Revenue had conducted more reviews of monthly reports and payments made by the state’s fuel distributors.

Auditors also uncovered that the Colorado Department of Transportation provided incorrect information on highway and bridge surface totals county by county, resulting in some counties and cities receiving less funds than intended while others got more than their fair share, the newspaper reported.

One issue likely to receive consideration in the legislative session that begins in January will be straightening out the vagueness in which the funds are divided among CDOT, counties and cities.