VOORHEESVILLE – For the second time this year, the state comptroller’s office is accusing Alan McCartney, the former superintendent of schools for Voorheesville, of paying himself inappropriately.

In January, Comptroller Alan Hevesi said that McCartney and another administrator had inappropriately paid themselves $216,000 for leave and other employment benefits.

Thursday, the comptroller’s office released a report saying McCartney charged nearly $12,000 for personal expenses to the school district in the two years before his July 15, 2005 retirement.

McCartney, the report says, used the district credit card to pay for more than $300 worth of entertainment at a downtown Albany strip club, and charged $770 for meals in a single day, and made 10 overnight stays at a casino.

McCartney reimbursed the district for about $600 of expenses, including his charges from the strip club, the report says.

The report recommends the district adopt policies and procedures to better track and screen spending. Superintendent Linda Langevin says many of the recommendations have already been implemented.

Robert Baron, who was president of the school board during the audited period, told The Enterprise that McCartney answered the moral issue of charging strip club entertainment to the school district by repaying it.
"Obviously, he didn’t feel it was proper to charge it to the district because he reimbursed the district," he said.

This audit focused on the records of senior-level officials, said Jennifer Freeman, a spokesperson from Hevesi’s office. Two other district administrators were implicated. (See related story.)

Hevesi has himself come under fire for using a state worker as a chauffeur for his wife. Just before his re-election on Nov. 7, the state ethics commission found he had likely violated state law. After the matter became public, Hevesi paid back about $83,000 and later put $90,000 into escrow.

The first audit of the Voorheesville school district was started in August, 2005. It was part of a statewide initiative to audit all school districts in the state, after a series of scandals on Long Island.

The results of the first audit were announced in January of 2006, and found that McCartney and former assistant superintendent for business, Anthony Marturano, inappropriately paid themselves $216,000.
Albany County District Attorney David Soares’ office found that there was no basis to prosecute the two retired administrators. Soares said the school district’s "weak internal controls" are what likely led to the problems.
The school board felt differently. At the press conference in January where Hevesi made his accusations, Joseph Pofit, the school board president at the time who later lost his re-election bid, said the board was "outraged" the former officials would purposely manipulate people and internal controls to enrich themselves. The board proceeded with civil suits it had filed in January against the men in an attempt to recoup the money. The case is still in litigation.
Now that this new information has been made available, the case is under review, said Rachel McEneny, the spokesperson for Soares’ office. "It will go to the Public Integrity Unit of this office," she told The Enterprise this week.

Auditor’s findings

The comptroller’s office, through its audit, says it found a number of questionable expenses that the former superintendent charged to the district.
"The Board did not have an adequate system of internal controls in place to ensure that payments for employee benefits were authorized and accurate," the report says.
"We question about $11,600 of the $25,000 in claims and charges submitted by the former Superintendent for a lack of adequate documentation and excessive and personal expenses. However, we had no significant findings with the claims submitted by the former Assistant Superintendent," the report says of Marturano.

Baron said that because the school district went ahead with the civil suits so quickly after the first audit was released, it inadvertently broke down the lines of communication with the former administrators .
"Once you raise the stakes so high, it just kills the communication," he said.

Marturano, who retired in 2002 and moved to Florida, told The Enterprise this week that he was surprised that these findings have come up.
"The man I know was a dedicated educator, who loved kids," he said. "He was a great educator and a great boss."

Calls made to McCartney by The Enterprise were not returned this week.
Baron said that in his time as president of the school board – from July, 2003 through June, 2005 – the board had "a good working relationship with Dr. McCartney."
"He helped establish the reputation of the school," Baron said.

The school board did not see expense reports, he said. Those went through the business office. As long as everything looked proper to the people in the office, he said, the expenses got paid.
The audit report states, "District officials informed us that they did not feel they could question the former Superintendent’s claims."

Langevin told The Enterprise that she is not sure if officials within the district may have been intimidated by McCartney. She did say, though, that the school board meetings were different with him, than they are now with her. She said that no one is reluctant now to ask her any questions.

Baron said that the business officials in the district are strong individuals who would have questioned something that they felt was improper.
The auditors state that the district’s travel policy during the period being audited "was vague and non-specific." The policy provided for reimbursement of "reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred while traveling for school related activities."

All school district employees are now required to fill out a conference and workshop request, approval and expense voucher, which summarizes expenses for a single purpose, said Langevin.

At the time that McCartney was superintendent, though, only teachers filled them out, said the current Assistant Superintendent for Business Sarita Winchell.

Because these forms were not available to the auditors, the audit was more difficult to perform, the report says.
The report claims that McCartney traveled for conferences to Syracuse seven times, three of which "the sponsoring associations purportedly holding the meetings told us that they had no record of any meetings on these dates."

Costs to the district for these meetings including meals and mileage totaled $1,100.

Baron said that McCartney worked on several different subcommittees, and a lot of them met in Syracuse.
"Just because he didn’t have a conference, doesn’t mean he didn’t have a subcommittee meeting," Baron said in his former colleague’s defense.
Baron said that it is important in this case to not rush to judgement. "We’re only getting one side," he said.

The audit report details trips that McCartney made where, it says, mileage was reimbursed that wasn’t traveled, and where he stayed in hotels that were miles out of the way.

Meal reimbursements were paid totaling over $4,200, and it was not documented why the meal was business-related and who attended, the report says.

In one such trip, to Rochester, N.Y. for a conference, McCartney, along with three board members, charged $600 for one meal, and $170 for another meal on the same day. Federal reimbursement rates warrant $47 per person per day for Rochester, which totals $188 per day for the four school officials, the report says.

Baron said that he was not among the attending board members on this trip. He agreed that it is a lot of money to spend for four people to eat for one day.

He said, though, that he would like to know more facts, like were there more than four people who ate with Mccartney.
McCartney also used the district credit card for 10 overnight stays at a casino in Vernon, NY. The charges for the stays cost nearly $1,300, including meals. On one occasion, McCartney stayed at the casino when, according to the audit report, "it appeared to be in the District’s best interest for him to stay closer to the event."

McCartney also charged $220 for travel expenses to attend a meeting with companies with which the district did not do business, the report says.

He charged $1,286 for 28 people to attend a retirement party, and seven attendees reimbursed the district $360, the report says. He also made personal donations to charities of $800, reimbursing only $150, it says.

District’s response
"It’s a very difficult situation the school district is in," Baron told The Enterprise.

The district has responded to recommendations made by the comptroller’s office.
Basic internal controls within the district have been tightened. "Nothing is concentrated to one person," Winchell said.

The district has hired a claims auditor and an internal auditor; both report directly to the board. The claims auditor checks every pay-out, Winchell said. The internal auditor, she said, assesses risk regarding security of the system.

Both auditors make recommendations to the board on actions to be taken in specific circumstances, Winchell said.

It has also established an Audit Committee, which has been meeting since the summer, and reviews financial reports from the claims and internal auditors, said Superintendent Linda Langevin.

Advisory Solutions has been hired to act as a consultant to the district to ensure that all internal controls are put into place, she said.

Langevin, who succeeded McCartney as superintendent, said that she herself completes forms for expenses as any other employee would.
"I’m very closely watched," she said.

Board members are required to attend five sessions of fiscal accountability training, Langevin said. It is a requirement for the three board members who are new since 2005 – David Gibson, Kevin Kroenke, and Gary Hubert, she said.
In a response submitted by board president Gibson to the Office of the State Comptroller on behalf of the school board, he said: "The District recognizes that certain internal controls were not previously adopted because of a long-term and trusting relationship among the Board, its Superintendent, and the District staff. While in some cases the trust was violated, it is important to note that in most circumstances that trust was not misplaced."
The comptroller’s office responded to this statement saying: "Quite clearly trust was misplaced and violated. But more importantly, government organizations should utilize good internal controls, including appropriate checks and balances and governing board oversight, rather than personal trust, to safeguard taxpayers."

In an explanation of Gibson’s statement, Langevin told The Enterprise that McCartney was a good superintendent, and he did good things for the district.
"We separate the two things," Langevin said of McCartney’s contributions as an educator, contrasted with the allegations of his inappropriate spending.
In its formal response to the comptroller’s office, the school board said that it "is reviewing and considering how to pursue collection of personal expenses the former Superintendent has not already reimbursed, through litigation."

The board will, at its December board meeting, accept the Federal reimbursement rates, with the exception of package-deal rates, Langevin said. It will also set a maximum reimbursement rate for lodging.

Now, at Voorheesville, reimbursements will not be given unless employees follow board policy, the response states. Travel expenses will be reviewed by the claims auditor and accepted by the board as a regular agenda item. The audit committee will review the superintendent’s travel expenses and refer any questionable expenses to the board.

Langevin said that she must sign off on all payroll records and expense reimbursements; anything she is uncomfortable with, she refers to the auditor.
"The OSC audit has been a benefit to the district," Langevin told The Enterprise, implying that the district’s internal controls needed to be addressed. She added that everyone within the district has been very cooperative.