The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is in trouble.

That’s a phrase that’s been said all too frequently over the years. Pennsylvania taxpayers have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees tied to corruption cases. Shoddy management and hiring practices contributed to a legacy of political patronage and exploitation.

There’s even a nude picture scandal — in 1999 photos of former Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer’s wife were found on turnpike computers, and a male employee who took them was fired — in the turnpike’s history.

Now we can add impending financial ruin to the laundry list of its failings.

State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale promised months ago, after the Turnpike announced its ninth straight year of toll hikes, to take a closer look at the commission’s finances. On Tuesday his office released a report that paints a dire picture — what DePasquale has called a debt “spiral” leading to billions of dollars in cost overruns for the group. The spiral can be traced back to 2007 and changes to the state’s transportation funding law requiring the turnpike to make annual payments of $450 million to PennDOT.

The commission has racked up a ridiculous debt load — as of 2015 it was $4.11 billion in the red — to make the payments. Drivers, in turn, have been getting gouged at the toll booth — something that isn’t forecast to change any time soon. The commission says it expects to increase toll rates every year through 2044.

That’s an unsustainable arrangement that’s sure to accomplish only one thing: drive motorists away from the road and onto alternate, toll-free routes, further exacerbating the commission’s financial position.

A better way forward will take collaboration. State officials need to dramatically reform Pennsylvania’s transportation funding system, and stop treating the turnpike like an ATM. It also should give the group the authority it needs to go after motorists who skip out on the bill. In fiscal year 2016 the turnpike lost nearly $20 million in unpaid tolls to drivers who went through EZ-Pass lanes improperly.

The commission, in turn, needs to finally end its legacy of patronage and excess. The audit faulted the commission for handing out more than $5.2 million in free, non-business-related trips on the turnpike to employees, contractors and state government officials between June 2014 and February 2016. That’s a ridiculous practice, especially for a group struggling with billions of dollars in debt, and it needs to stop.

It also needs to stop cooking its own data when it comes to planning and paying for debt service and capital improvement projects. DePasquale said the group was using “unrealistic” projections for traffic and toll rates in future years.

In short, everyone — the commission and state officials milking the turnpike like a cash cow — needs to start living in reality.