Elmont school district scolded in audit

A state comptroller's audit released last week took the Elmont school district to task for allowing an independent contractor to approve district purchases and not requiring competitive bidding on purchases.

The audit, which covered July 2008 through May 2010, found that the board of education "has not properly exercised control over District operations that is required."

It found that the district allowed an independent contractor, and not the district's treasurer, to approve "purchase orders, journal entries, and wire transfers" -- including his own contract -- at times even approving the items remotely without examining accompanying documents that supported the purchases.

The audit by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office also found that the district paid a total of $9,820 in unused vacation leave to four departing employees despite not having authorization by their employment contracts or by a board of education resolution.

The Elmont district did not require competitive bids for purchases of professional services, the audit found, and in some cases did not even have written contracts with an attorney and an architect, to whom it paid $156,000 in total for professional services.

Elmont Superintendent Al Harper said his district largely agrees with the audit's recommendations to fix the issues.

"I think the state comptroller's office was right on target," said Harper, who was in charge during the audit period. "The audit conducted in the Elmont school district really echoed the continuous improvement efforts we've undertaken and continued to do so."

Still, Harper said the independent contractor, a business consultant with the district for more than two decades, merely oversaw purchases but did not approve them.

"They were approved by the district treasurer. We don't feel that they were being approved" by the consultant, he said. "We believe by removing the additional oversight by the consultant it would weaken the district's controls."

He said the district would nevertheless follow the audit's recommendations.