Schools
Audit Of East Haven Board Of Education's Finances Underway
Concerns have been raised that the school system spent more funds than were approved by the town.
Originally written by Jack Kramer, Correspondent
EAST HAVEN – For the second consecutive month, the Town Council spent much of its monthly meeting discussing how the Board of Education pay its bills and why that same board can’t balance its checkbook.
Finance Director Paul Rizza told the Council at its March meeting that an audit of the Board of Education’s books is underway and not only the Town Council, but the Board of Finance and Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. will be kept apprised of the results. To sign up for East Haven breaking news alerts and more, click here.
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The auditor, Rizza said, has been reviewing the books for about three weeks and is looking at expenditures from last July 1st through the end of February of this year.
The auditor, Rizza said, is also looking at reconciliations of previous accounts as well as grants received from the state and other places.
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Questions about the Board of Education’s expenditures first surfaced at last month’s Council meeting, where members expressed frustration that the school expenditures were tracking in excess of the $47.16 million allocated for the year, and asked Finance Director Paul at the meeting if he had answers as to why that was the case.
At last month’s meeting, a motion was introduced, and seconded, “If in 45 days he (Rizza) does not have an answer that shows where the money is and what happened, at that point they ask for a formal investigation by the State Attorney’s Office or Attorney General’s Office to find out what happened.”
The board eventually decided not to move forward with the motion.
At the March meeting, the lengthy discussion, and frustration, with the school board’s spending practices continued, however.
For full account of the March Town Council discussion on the school board’s spending, go to this link,
http://www.townofeasthavenct.org/sites/easthavenct/files/minutes/tc-minutes-3.7.17-amended.pdf.
(Editor's Note: This story first ran previously but here it is again in case you missed it.)
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