FOR RELEASE:

Westbury Schools Strengthen Policies for Administrative Spending Following State Audit
Audit Finds Superintendent Inappropriately Paid $15,000

Following an audit by the State Comptroller’s office, the Westbury Union Free School District has strengthened its policies over spending for travel, meals, and leave time, State Comptroller Alan Hevesi announced today. The audit found no fraud, but found that some internal controls needed to be strengthened.

In an audit that examined administrative expenses, such as credit card usage, meals and travel from July 1, 2002 through August 31, 2004, the auditors found that the district had inappropriately compensated the superintendent more than $15,000 for leave time and paid more than $1,800 for personal travel expenses for District officials and for spouses and others to accompany officials to conferences.

“A top priority of school boards and districts is to ensure that taxpayer money is used to benefit the students,” Hevesi said. “I am pleased that the Board of Education has taken several steps to safeguard resources and urge the Board to be more vigilant in their fiscal oversight responsibilities.”

Auditors noted that in recent months that the District has reviewed many of the district’s internal controls over administrative expenses and strengthened oversight in many instances, including contracting with a certified public accountant to serve as the internal claims auditor and eliminating district credit cards. The Board also adopted new policies and regulations related to meals and refreshments, cell phones and processing conference requests.

Auditors found:

• $13,400 credit card charges with little or no documentation and more than $1,800 in personal expenses billed to the District, $800 of which were reimbursed to the District after auditors pointed out the expenses. In June 2004, the District cancelled the credit cards.
• The superintendent received $15,700 in compensation for converting 20 sick leave days into cash, which is not allowed under her employment contract. The payments were approved by the current and former presidents of the Board of Education but without required authorization from the full Board. The superintendent was also prematurely paid for vacation days and used personal time even though her contract does not specifically allow her personal time. In January, the Board retroactively approved the past payments to the superintendent for leave time and clarified other employment contracts.
• Assistant superintendents were granted compensatory time although their contracts did not indicate whether they could earn it or not.
• The District paid for spouses and others to accompany school officials to conferences and failed to obtain reimbursement for some of these expenses. After auditors brought the matter to the District’s attention, the money was repaid.
• Some employees’ personal expenses were paid while they were attending conferences for meals, movies and other incidentals.
• More than $103,000 was spent for 73 cell phones. Auditors found that at least seven of the phones, costing between $40 and $50 per month, had minimal usage. In February 2004, the district strengthened its cell phone policy requiring employees to pay for personal calls over the allotted 400-minutes. While the new policy reduced the district’s overage charges, the Board has not monitored the policy to determine whether officials have billed employees for exceeding their monthly minutes.
• $80,700 was spent for meals and refreshments at 421 Board of education and other meetings during the two-year period with little or no supporting information indicating the reasons necessary to provide food at the District’s expense.
• Auditors found that the District did not have adequate internal controls or properly segregate staff duties. For instance, through June 2004, a receptionist who works in the business office was also the internal claims auditor. She reported directly to the superintendent rather than directly to the Board of Education.

The District’s 2004-05 operating budget totals about $71 million.

Auditors made several recommendations to the Board of Education, including reviewing cash payments for unused time, recovering any payments that were not in accordance with contract agreements, maintaining accurate attendance records, monitoring compliance with new policies and strengthening travel policies. In addition, auditors suggested establishing a reasonable per diem for travel expenses and re-examining cell phone usage and policies. As part of its response to the audit, the District indicated that it intends to implement the auditors’ recommendations. The full response from the District is included in the audit.

The audit also details findings in response to five taxpayer complaints sent to the Comptroller’s Office that were investigated as part of the audit.

Click here for a copy of the audit.

###

Albany Phone: (518) 474-4015  Fax:(518) 473-8940
NYC Phone: (212) 681-4825  Fax:(212) 681-4468
Internet: http://www.osc.state.ny.us
E-Mail:press@osc.state.ny.us