BY SARAH STEPHENS
ELMORE/AUTAUGA NEWS
In addressing findings of a recent audit of school accounts this morning at a special meeting, Elmore County Superintendent Richard Dennis said actions have been taken after the board was found with a “significant deficiency.”
Dennis said that an amount of money “no more than $600” was used improperly without documentation or for personal use by an employee. That money has since been paid back, according to the report issued by the Alabama Examiners of Public Accounts.
This pertains to the Elmore County Child Nutrition program, which Dennis noted is one of the best in the state, if not the country.
Dennis said that when the oversight was noticed, immediate action was taken to prevent it in the future. He stressed that he was in contact with the Alabama Ethics Commission and the 19th Judicial District Attorney’s office, and no criminality was detected.
The following is a release from Dennis, given to media following the meeting this morning.
It reads:
On Aug. 31, 2023, the Examiners of Public Accounts issued the results of its annual audit of the Elmore County Board of Education’s (ECBOE) finances for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022. Each year the district’s finances, including the records of its departments, programs, and school sites, undergo auditing to ensure transactions are processed in compliance with Board policy and federal and state law.
At its special meeting held October 3, 2023, the ECBO publicly shared the results from the Examiners’ audit and was pleased to announce that the district only had two findings. The first finding dealt with the Board’s financial management procedure requiring purchases be made in accordance with purchase order procedures. The auditors determined certain items were purchased using the Board’ online accounts that were for personal purposes and expenditures for food, linens, small kitchen equipment and other supplies for catering events and test kitchen activities were not adequately documented to establish the allowable purpose of the expenditures. As a result, the ECBOE has put in place procedures to ensure all purchases are properly approved and deemed allowable in advance and that purchases are adequately documented. Additionally, monitoring and correct action have been instituted to eliminate recurrences of these issues.
The second finding dealt with the Davis Bacon and Related Acts Provisions and Procedures (the “Davis-Bacon Act”), which required that construction contracts funded wholly or in part by federal funds include prevailing wage rate clauses. The Examiners found that during fiscal year 2022, two of the Board’s construction project contracts did not include prevailing wage rate clauses. The Examiners determined laborers and mechanics employed by ECBOE’s contractors or subcontractors to work on certain construction financed by federal assistance funds may have been paid wages less than those established for locality of project (prevailing wage rates) by the Department of Labor and that required compliance and payroll information had not been submitted by the contractors and/or subcontractors. Notably, the Examiners also acknowledged certified payrolls were provided by the ECBOE’s contractors and subcontractors once requested during the audit. As a result of this finding, the ECBOE has taken action to ensure the Davis-Bacon Act wage rate requirements are contractually met for these projects and that certified payrolls are submitted weekly by the contractors to the ECBOE.
As of September 11, 2023, the ECBOE has prepared and submitted a Corrective Action Plan for the two findings to the Examiners of Public Accounts. The corrective measures have been reviewed and accepted by the Examiners; the corrective action plan will be implemented with fidelity. The FY2022 audit report will be publicly posted on the district’s website.
Despite findings in two areas, we are pleased with the FYU 2022 audit outcome, indicating the general efficiency and effectiveness of the district’s financial administration. We will continue to work to improve the quality of the district’s financial practices and the integrity of its operational procedures.
