An audit released by the state comptroller’s office found that former Voorheesville superintendent Alan McCartney had charged at least $11,500 to the district for everything from expensive dinners to an evening at an Albany-area strip club.
The audit also found that a school official currently working in the district possibly violated leave time regulations and another may have accepted an inappropriate gift from a bus manufacturer.
The findings came after the office of the state comptroller decided to expand the audit, originally released in January, that found that McCartney and former assistant superintendent Anthony Marturano improperly paid themselves $216,000 for leave and other employment benefits.
According to the audit, of the $11,500 charged to or reimbursed from the district for various personal expenses, only $611 of those charges was paid back by McCartney. The audit stated money paid back by McCartney included the $357 he charged at a strip club on Dec. 17, 2004.
The same night, McCartney used the district credit card for an overnight stay at a hotel located approximately 12 miles from his home. The claim for the stay indicated its purpose was for a meeting, although the claim did not include a copy of the hotel receipt or why it was necessary to spend the night.
McCartney declined to comment on the audit’s findings. His lawyer, Stephen Coffey, could not be reached for comment.
The audit also found the former superintendent submitted reimbursement claims totaling nearly $4,600 for more than 120 day and overnight trips. Those claims, state the audit, did not include all travel destinations or departure and arrival times, making the grounds for mileage reimbursement indeterminable.
For example, the audit showed an instance in which McCartney was reimbursed by the district for 625-mile trip to attend a basketball game involving a school team. The auditors used an Internet mapping Web site to determine the trip from the superintendent’s home to the game site was only 440 miles, leaving it unclear why the district paid McCartney for the additional 185 miles.
According to the audit, McCartney also was reimbursed for 46 meals, totaling over $4,200, each lacking the documentation about who attended and why the meal was necessary.
While attending a conference in Rochester with three board members, it was discovered McCartney charged $770 for meals on one day. The federal reimbursement rate for meals in Rochester is $47 per person per day or $188 for the four officials.
Additionally, McCartney documented that three of his seven trips to Syracuse were necessary because of meetings held in the city. The associations that purportedly held the meetings told auditors that no records of these meetings existed. The district was charged $1,100 for mileage reimbursement and meals for those trips.
The audit found that district credit card and reimbursement claims that were submitted by McCartney for 10 overnight stays on seven separate occasions at Turning Stone Casino in Oneida County cost the district nearly $1,300.
On at least one night, it was in the district’s best interest for McCartney to stay closer to the event he was attending in Potsdam instead of driving the 166 miles back to the casino hotel. In this instance, the audit found that McCartney billed the district for the additional mileage. The cost of two nights at the casino exceeded the federal reimbursement rate by $224.
The Voorheesville Board of Education had a long-term and trusting relationship with former Superintendent of Schools Alan M. McCartney that now appears to have been violated, said Superintendent Linda Langevin in a statement. `The district is seeking full restitution from Dr. McCartney for contract violations and unauthorized expenditures.`
In light of the new findings, criminal charges against McCartney from the Albany County District Attorney’s office are under review, said spokeswoman Rachel McEneny.
The district attorney decided to not pursue criminal charges following a review of the January audit.
The audit of Marturano’s expense claims disclosed no significant findings.
According to the audit, the district may have also inappropriately paid current assistant superintendent and former treasurer, Sarita Winchell, $8,425 for unused leave and $5,575 for tuition reimbursement over a three-year period ending in 2002.
According to the board of education’s response to the audit, it was determined through discussions with prior board members and the public, as well as through memos and letters to the board that it was the board’s intention to allow Winchell, at the time the treasurer, to obtain the necessary graduate level courses to become a school business official and to pay for those courses.
According to the response, the board did not properly document these intentions through resolutions, but it was determined to take the course of action, therefore Winchell will not be required to reimburse the district.
The board will also not seek reimbursement for the unused vacation leave time, except in the instance in which a new employment agreement changed the amount of days that administrators were able to accumulate in a given year.
In that year, Winchell cashed out 10 vacation days. When the board retroactively agreed to an employment agreement, only a five-day cash out was allowed for that year. According to Langevin, Winchell voluntarily gave the district back the current value of five vacation days.
`The board of education and I have full confidence in the integrity and abilities of the current assistant superintendent for business,` said Langevin. `She has consistently performed her duties in an exemplary fashion and is a valuable member of the Voorheesville School District central office team.`
Additionally, The audit found an instance in which the transportation supervisor, Michael Goyer, may have accepted an improper gift when he took an all-expense paid trip to Tulsa as a guest of a school bus vendor. The audit stated that the trip cost more than $75 making it improper under municipal law that prohibits district officials from accepting gifts of $75 or more.
In November 2003, the district purchased three buses costing more than $200,000 from the same bus manufacturer that paid for Goyer’s trip.
`The subsequent purchase of buses from the manufacturer after the acceptance of the expense-paid trip raises a question of impropriety,` stated the audit.
The audit recommended that the district should have paid for the trip to avoid any conflict of interest.
According to Langevin, the district always purchases the same bus model because of compatible parts and that the trip wouldn’t have influenced that decision. Additionally, she said, Goyer was one of 12 district transportation supervisors who attended the trip.
`He didn’t go for a good time,` said Langevin. `If it had been Hawaii, I would have questioned it.`
In the past year, the Voorheesville School District has taken steps to strengthen the district’s internal controls. The district added an internal and claims auditor, hired a consultant to review internal controls changes, provided board training and appointed a board audit committee.
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