Maryland shortchanges taxpayers millions of dollars, according to state audit

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - Maryland has been shortchanging people millions of dollars on their tax returns according to a new state audit (State Department of Assessments and Taxation).

Auditors found the state has been miscalculating a tax credit for homeowners for years, and last year alone, just in Montgomery County, the error led to thousands of taxpayers losing out on a total of $4.4 million...

...Louis Wilen, a retired computer programmer from Montgomery County, discovered the problem four years ago. It’s not the first time he’s found a tax flaw in Maryland...

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/maryland-shortchanges-taxpayers-millions-of-dollars-according-to-state-audit

Audit finds PGCPS broke the law when awarding millions in school contracts

UPPER MALRBORO, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - Prince George’s Co. Public Schools is not following state law or its own policies when it comes to awarding millions of dollars in contracts, according to a state audit on the school system’s financial management.

FOX 5 has learned the school district’s director of purchasing is no longer employed as of Friday. 

According to the audit by the Department of Legislative Services, the contracts in question total nearly $85 million.

According to the report, “the required justification was not documented for 13 of the 15 sole source contracts we tested totaling $6.8 million and PGCPS had not documented the benefits from one ICPA (intergovernmental cooperative purchasing agreement) contract“ valued at $34.8 million over five years.

The audit also found 32 contracts totaling $43.1 million were not submitted to the Board of Education for approval as required. Two of those contracts were awarded to vendors that were either not the most qualified or the lowest cost bidders, according to the audit.

“It has the appearances of bid steering, improper bid steering,” said Louis Clark, CEO of the nonprofit Government Accountability Project.

The state audit does not name the companies or offer details on why rules were not followed with certain contracts. Clark says an additional investigation is necessary to find out if there was improper bid steering...

http://www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/audit-finds-pgcps-broke-the-law-when-awarding-millions-in-school-contracts?fbclid=IwAR367OzapMPZNzzLcns-LRBzXN7T5nq0IaVHqXg9PkHhVNkEytyGX7-hTxg

Another Bad Audit for MCPS. 2015 State Audit of MCPS Shows SAME Findings as in 2009.

UPDATED:  2016 State Audit Shown Below.

Under Maryland law, public school systems are audited every 6 years by the Maryland State Office of Legislative Audits.  The first audit of MCPS was released in 2009.  One would think that the next audit would have been released in 2015, but as of today that audit has still not been made public.

But, thanks to the Board of Education's Legislative Aide, Patricia Swanson, we now know that the 2015 audit has been completed and that the State Auditors have made the same findings as they did back in 2009.

On February 9, 2016, Patricia Swanson told the Board of Education:

• 2009 State Audit of MCPS listed "some concerns"
• MCPS says 2009 Audit findings "were not founded"
• 2015 State Audit of MCPS has "same findings"

What were those concerns in 2009, that MCPS administrators are now dismissing as "not founded?"

Below is the link to the 2009 Maryland State Audit of MCPS.  Read for yourself what the State Auditors found.  

It's a preview of what is to come in the 2015 audit, IF the 2015 audit is ever released to the public. 

2016 State Audit Montgomery County Public Schools by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

Exclusive: Board of Education Member Spending Reveals over 100 Local Restaurant Meals, Local Hotel Stays, Local Mileage

PARENTS' COALITION OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND

Press Release
contact@parentscoalitionmc.com
For Immediate Release

Public Information Act Request of Board of Education Member Spending Reveals Repetitive Local Mileage, Local Hotel Stays, and over 100 Local Restaurant Meals

Parents' Coalition Calls for Immediate Release of Expense Reports and Credit Card Records for Remaining Board of Education Members

Montgomery County, Maryland, April 30, 2014 - Today the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland is releasing 300 pages of credit card and expense reports for two Montgomery County Board of Education members.  The records cover the time period from January 1, 2012, through February 28, 2014, and were obtained through a Maryland Public Information Act request.

The expense reports from these two Board members reveal:

• mileage charges for Board members commuting between their homes and the Board office
• multiple mileage charges in one day to the same location
• over 100 local restaurant meals, including meals where Board members are dining with each other
• local hotel stays, including room service
• multiple credit card charges for personal travel and expenses

In all of these records the signature of the "supervisor" is a staff member in the Board of Education office.  According to a February 17, 2010, letter from the MCPS Director of Public Information these charges should have been approved by MCPS Chief Operating Officer Larry Bowers.

Public education dollars are precious.  As Superintendent Joshua Starr and then Board of Education President Christopher Barclay stated in their March 2013 letter in the Gazette, even 36 cents a day can make a difference in the education of a child.

While recognizing that Board of Education members serve part time, still it is important the Board members be frugal in their use of school funds for purposes outside the classroom, and that they be conscientious in overseeing their own charges to reflect how careful they are in overseeing MCPS expenditures. 

In light of the spending revealed in these documents, the Parents' Coalition calls on the Board of Education to post all MCPS credit card and expense reports to increase support of public education and confidence in the administration of our public schools by increasing transparency.  We request that the Board of Education begin by releasing the expense and credit card reports for the remaining 6 Board members.

We ask the Montgomery County Inspector General to offer suggestions on how MCPS can improve its financial management practices so inappropriate expenses are not approved and mistakes are corrected in a more timely manner.

In requesting the full disclosure of Board member and MCPS expense reports we cite President Barack Obama's Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government. 

Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

About The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland: The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland was formed in 2003. The group seeks to achieve the goals of coherent, content-rich curriculum standards; high expectations combined with timely remediation and acceleration; a wider range of educational options for parents and children; greater transparency and accountability; and meaningful community input.

• Board of Education member Patricia O'Neill Expense Report and Credit Card Records (34 pages)

2012-2014

• Board of Education member Christopher Barclay Expense Report and Credit Card Records (268 pages)

2012
January - April
June - September
September - December 

2013
January - March
March - May
June - September
September - December 

2014 (January and February only)

Press Release: State Audit of MCPS Confirms Parents' Coalition's concerns

PARENTS' COALITION OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Press Release
Contact:
Janis Sartucci
Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County
contact@parentscoalitionmc.com
http://www.parentscoalitionmc.com/
For Immediate ReleaseState Audit of MCPS Confirms Parents' Coalition's concerns:
1,400 MCPS credit cards need oversight
MCPS travel needs to be approved
Montgomery County, Maryland, January 23, 2009 - The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County is pleased that today the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits has released their Financial Practices Performance Audit Report for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).

In the summer of 2008, a citizen obtained the list of over 1,400 MCPS employees who have been issued American Express purchasing cards (credit cards). Multiple members of the Parents' Coalition filed Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) requests to determine how these cards were being used by specific MCPS staff. The MPIA request process was difficult and time consuming. However, eventually credit card "logs" and travel expense reports were obtained for 14 MCPS employees. In just that small sample of expenditures, Parents' Coalition members saw that many of the credit card log purchases were not approved until after the MPIA request had been made. In some cases, the date the purchase had been approved was a year after the purchase was made. In addition, that small sample of credit card logs showed numerous expenditures that seemed to be unrelated to the mission of the school system. Those MPIA requests were made available to the public on the Parents' Coalition website. The credit card logs and travel expense reports have been the most popular items viewed on the Parents' Coalition website to date.

http://www.parentscoalitionmc.com/MCPSExpenseReports.html

Today, the Parents' Coalition applauds the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits for their audit of the MCPS use of credit cards and travel expenses. The Audit confirms that MCPS oversight of credit cards has been lax and that MCPS has failed to properly monitor and control credit card expenditures and travel.

http://www.ola.state.md.us/Reports/Schools/MCPS09.pdf
Chapter 3, Pages 19-23Included in the Legislative Audit is the following summary:"However, we found that processes over credit cards need to be strengthened. Specifically, our review disclosed significant weaknesses in internal controls over the procurement card program. These weaknesses included (1) a lack of monitoring over card usage and credit limits, (2) the employee who requested the procurement cards also initially received the cards from the vendor and (3) employees did not always complete card transaction logs, and other logs were not reviewed and approved. We also noted certain potentially questionable credit card purchases. Finally, for certain employees, travel was not approved in advance, as required by MCPS policy.From the report:

*MCPS records indicated that its employees used credit cards to make a total of $5.6 million in purchases (including textbook purchases). According to MCPS records, during fiscal year 2007, 1,209 employees used credit cards with the monthly charges being paid directly by the school system to the credit card bank. (Please note that as of the summer of 2008 there were 1,400 credit cards in use.)*In addition, nine of these cards had single transaction limits exceeding $7,500, MCPS’ threshold for obtaining competitive bids.

*MCPS did not ensure that credit card documentation was maintained that adequately supports all purchases and establishes proper supervisory review of every transaction. Our review of 161 calendar year 2007 transactions totaling $55,000 disclosed that 50 transactions totaling $22,800, applicable to 9 cardholders, were not included on transaction logs for subsequent review.

Of the remaining 111 transactions, there was no documented approval on the logs pertaining to 41 transactions (applicable to 6 cardholders) to indicate a supervisory review and approval of the related charges.

*For example, our review of fiscal year 2007 credit card purchases identified 512 purchases totaling $39,400 from vendors that did not appear to have an obvious relationship with the mission of MCPS.

*For example, we noted 119 purchases totaling $8,290 from department stores and 121 purchases totaling $5,571 from party supply stores.

*For example, one school spent a total of $21,000 on food (using credit cards) without obtaining such approval.

*Approximately 26 individuals (that is, upper management employees and Board members) had been issued credit cards that did not have travel-related restrictions, such as for air fare and hotel accommodations. Use of credit cards for travel expenditures may allow cardholders to incur such expenditures without obtaining advance approval, as required by MCPS regulations. Our tests of 32 calendar year 2007 travel expenditures charged to credit cards totaling $19,028 disclosed 30 expenditures totaling $17,930 that were not recorded on monthly activity logs and, therefore, were never approved. In addition, no documentation could be located to support 10 meal expenditures totaling $2,172 that were recorded on credit card statements. According to MCPS records, during fiscal year 2007, travel expenditures totaled $2.5 million, including $80,465 charged on credit cards.
The Parents' Coalition wishes to thank its members, who through their diligence and persistence brought a small amount of sunshine to the use of public funds by Montgomery County school officials.

The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County is a citizen network dedicated to improving the responsiveness and performance of the Montgomery County Public Schools. Drawing from education advocacy groups throughout Montgomery County, Maryland, the Parents' Coalition seeks to use the political process to achieve the goals of coherent, content-rich curriculum standards; high expectations combined with timely remediation and acceleration; a wider range of educational options for parents and children; greater transparency and accountability; and meaningful community input.