PENN HILLS — A state audit shows a school district’s long-term debt has increased from $11 million to $167 million in five years, and criminal investigations are being urged, the state auditor general announced.

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said the Penn Hills School District audit, released Wednesday, is the worst he’s ever seen.

The district floated $135 million in bonds for capital improvements in 2010 with no plan to pay back the money, fueling its gargantuan long-term debt, but it’s clear other expenditures and procedures haven’t been closely tracked, DePasquale said.

The audit found $22,000 in athletic ticket proceeds was never deposited. The district’s credit cards were a mess, too.

One district-issued card carried the name Anyone In Uniform, meaning it could be used by anyone with a school district shirt or ball cap to make purchases without showing other identification. The district issued 24 credit cards, even though only four people were supposed to have them, and more than $424,000 was spent.

Despite rules that cards were for emergency use only, they were being used to buy doughnuts. One district employee even used a card to buy a $359 water heater for his or her home, DePasquale said.

Background checks for school drivers were flawed, with two drivers having felonies that should have barred them from contact with students. The board fired its business manager after discovering a $9 million deficit from the previous year.