Long Beach School District audit released

An audit released by the state comptrollers office on Dec. 29 found that the Long Beach School District lacked written procedures in processing payroll, electronic banking transactions, wire transfers

and protection of financial information.

The audit, which examined the district’s operations from July 1, 2007 to Oct. 31, 2008, also noted that the “district’s purchasing policies did not require officials to solicit competitive proposals prior to issuing a contract with a professional service provider.”

The audit charges that the district did not accurately account for employees’ attendance, which could have resulted in over or underpayment benefits upon retirement, including the overpayment of $8,000 in benefits to two former employees, said Emily DeSantis, a spokeswoman for the comptroller’s office.

“Although the controller’s office highlighted some risk based on incorrect booking in the benefits office, there was no actual detriment to the district or to any particular former employee,” explained LBSD’s Chief Operating Officer Michael DeVito. DeVito said that when an employee retires, a separate workup is done, and he is confident that any inaccuracies would have been caught.

He further explained that for one of those two employees there was a disagreement between the distract and the comptrollers as to how the contract was interpreted. The employee was given compensation for working more than the hours required by his contract in the form of time off. DeVito said the comptroller’s office felt this time should have been deducted from his vacation time. As with the second employee, she was paid vacation time that was accrued but not yet used upon her leaving the district.

New York State law does not require the district to request bids from service providers, like architects and construction managers, but has done so for the past two years as a way to solicit competition, Devito said.

“What is required by law is for the district to establish some sort of method to get competition for those services,” said DeSantis. “In these times of fiscal hardship, school districts need to watch how it spends every dime of taxpayer money.”

While the district disagrees with some of the comptroller’s findings, DeVito said the district views it positively and feels that there was no serious case of fraud or misconduct. “We have already begun to take corrective action to address some of the findings and follow up on the recommendations,” he said.

Superintendent Dr. Robert Greenberg said at the Jan. 12 Board of Education meeting he was given board approval to hire a consultant to improve financial procedures.

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