The Albany County District Attorney’s office declared in late June that it would not pursue criminal charges against two Voorheesville district administrators for allegedly awarding themselves more than $200,000.
An initial audit by the office of the state comptroller in 2005 revealed that the district’s former superintendent, Alan McCartney, and assistant superintendent for business, Anthony Marturano, were the recipients of questionable payments totaling $216,000.
The audit revealed that McCartney had received $127,338 from August 1989 to July 2005, and Marturano had received $89,069 from January 1991 to August 2002.
McCartney retired in 2005 and Marturano retired in 2002.
According to the audit, the two officials authorized virtually all of the payments to themselves without the knowledge or approval of the board of education.
In January, then board of education president Joseph Pofit and the board’s attorney, Dennis Curtin, met with the district attorney’s office to discuss pursuing civil action and request that the office investigate and prosecute McCartney and Marturano for larceny, fraud and official misconduct. Civil action seeking monetary recovery is still pending.
The district attorney’s office investigated the claims through recovered computer records, documents, interviews with district employees, officials and board members, the initial audit and more.
Following the investigation, the district attorney’s office said in a June 22 letter to the school district that it determined that the contracts between the board of education and Drs. McCartney and Marturano likely violated New York State contract and education law and contained impermissible provisions; however they did not violate New York State penal law.
`Based on the available evidence,` the letter concludes, `that no theft of federal funds occurred and that criminal liability cannot be assessed against Drs. McCartney and Marturano.`
Among the violations found in the audit were overpayments for unused vacation time. The contracts, which the district attorney’s office declared ambiguous, limit how much each school official be paid for vacation time not used. McCartney received $84,283 more than his contract allowed and Marturano received $35,968 more.
`This was blatant abuse of taxpayer dollars and manipu-lation of weak internal controls by two individuals at the top who were entrusted to safeguard these funds,` said Comptroller Alan Hevesi. `Their actions are deplorable and resulted in a considerable financial loss for the school district.`
The investigation also found the superintendents failed to charge vacation time for time out of office, received unauthorized leave benefits, had taken inappro-priate stipends, received improper contract provisions (annuity and disability insurance benefits), reimbursed themselves for undocumented claims and to fail to notify the board of education about taking pay for the unused vacation time.
`This has been a long and arduous process for the entire school, and particularly the district office,` said board president David Gibson. `Al-though there were internal controls that were weak, actions have been implemented to correct those problems that were identified by the Office of the State Comptroller and now confirmed by the district attorney and U.S. Education Department.`
Superintendent Linda Langevin said the school board had created and filled two positions to help with internal controls. A claims auditor now reviews all purchases for accuracy and will report any exception to the board of education. An internal auditor will perform random analyses on all high-risk areas checking, including employee payrolls in the areas of retirement vacation and benefits paid.
In other changes, Langevin noted, no one person will control the process and procedures of the district office.
`There’s always at least two sets of eyes on every procedure now,` said Langevin.
For instance, Langevin said, if she were to seek money for unused vacation time she would have to present the request to the board of education, and the board would need to approve the request through the passing of a resolution.
`I answer directly to the board of education for all money,` said Langevin. `They know any money that I’m spending.`
Langevin said she is confident that the internal controls the board adopted and the district office implemented would prevent any similar issues from arising.
`We are pleased that we will be able to turn our focus more completely to educating the children,` said Langevin.
The Office of the State Comptroller has not yet released its final report concerning the district.
Under a new state law, all school districts, BOCES and charter schools are to be audited by the state comptroller’s office over the next five years. Voorheesville was one of the first upstate schools to be audited under the law.“
