The legitimacy of $11,800 paid to Whitesboro administrators for unused
vacation days is a point of contention between the state Comptroller’s Office
and the school district.
According to the final report from a state audit
of the district’s finances, six district employees received a total of $11,800
in “inappropriate payments” between July 1, 2006, and July 31, 2007.
| AT A GLANCE |
| * A report from the office of state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli Tuesday
stated the Whitesboro school district made $11,800 in “inappropriate payments”
to administrators between July 1, 2006, and July 31, 2007. * The money was paid out to six administrators as compensation for unused vacation days. That benefit is not listed in any of their employment contracts. * Whitesboro Interim Superintendent Arnold Kaye said the payments are part of benefits extended to district administrators by a 1983 school board resolution, and therefore legitimate. The district has informed the state that it disagrees with the report’s findings. |
While unused vacation days can be carried over to the next year, they cannot
be replaced by monetary compensation, the Comptroller’s Office said.
The
payments spanned two financial years for the district, and were received by the
following:
* District treasurer.
* Assistant superintendent for
learning.
* Assistant superintendent for business.
* Director of
special services.
* Director of information systems.
*
Transportation supervisor.
"Whitesboro cost taxpayers $11,000 by giving
employees benefits they were not supposed to get,” Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli
said in a news release. “The district has to ensure that employees only receive
the benefits stipulated in their contract.”
Whitesboro Interim
Superintendent Arnold Kaye, however, disagreed with the audit’s
findings.
“The payments that they question are, in fact, due to the
employees who received them,” Kaye said. “And we have documentation to support
that.”
The compensation option, Kaye said, was made available through a
Board of Education resolution passed July 5, 1983. The resolution extended
benefits for members of the Whitesboro Administrators’ Organization to all
central office administrators and supervisors, and passed 6-0 with one board
member absent.
The district shared its position with the Comptroller’s
office in a June 24 letter. And a copy of that resolution has since been
attached to each employee’s contract to prevent further confusion, Kaye
said.
Others areas in which the Comptroller’s Office cited as needing
improvement included security measures for electronically stored data, and the
division of several payroll duties currently handled by a single employee. The
district has 90 days to submit a corrective action plan addressing the state’s
concerns.
Kaye said he believes the report reflects well on the district
overall.
“The report even in its draft form was very clear that there
were absolutely no financial improprieties in any of the records that the
comptroller examined. And they claimed to have reviewed expenditures of as much
as $40 million dollars,” Kaye said.
“I have to say that finding no
financial improprieties in over $40 million worth of payments indicates that the
district is very diligent and has been really good stewards of the district’s
finances,” he said.
