Last Spring's Shell Game (or: Hiding Dollars from the County Council)

Finding 4: Council staff was not provided updated information regarding projected health benefit costs at the time the final Council decision on the MCPS appropriation was made.
Up to date information related to the estimated costs of health benefits was important to the BOE's and the Council's decisions regarding the funding required for the MCPS contribution for employee health benefits. We determined that, at the time Council made its decision regarding appropriations for MCPS, the Council staff had only the operating budget request documents explained above and the Monthly Financial Reports available for analysis. Information regarding the downwardly revised estimates of health benefits costs could not have been gleaned from the Monthly Financial Reports and was not available in any other document provided to Council staff prior to the time information was presented to the Council Education Committee for review and consideration or prior to May 26, 2011, when the Council voted on the MCPS appropriation.

Page 13, OIG report