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May 8, 2008 10:14 pm US/Mountain
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CBS4 Investigates: No Receipts, No Problem
Adams County School District 50 Hasn't Audited $60,000 In Travel Expenses
Written by investigative reporter Brian Maass
DENVER (CBS4) ―
An out-of-state architectural firm has billed an Adams County School District nearly $60,000, for hotels, meals and travel expenses in the last year but the district hasn't bothered to ask for, or review, a single receipt.
"It's negligence," said Kevin O'Brien, a former IRS agent, CPA and business ethics professor at the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business. "The public has a right to expect there will be some minimum checking on those receipts because its really the public's money."
Adams County School District 50 hired Healy, Bender and Associates of Naperville, Ill., last year. The school district enlisted the company to help design a new high school and elementary school and renovate Westminster High School and Ranum Middle School.
A school district spokesperson says the Illinois company was brought in because District Superintendent Dr. Roberta Selleck was comfortable with them having used the company on other projects when she was an educator in Illinois.
In the last year, Healy Bender has billed the district about $1.8 million for its services. Of that, the architectural firm has billed $59,081.68 for hotels, flights, meals and rental cars for trips to Colorado. But the company hasn't turned over, nor has the district asked to review any receipts for those travel expenses.
Instead, every one or two months, the company has sent the district a one page invoice of expenses.
For example, last April, the architects billed the district $15, 698.67 for airfare, hotel, meals, mileage, car rental and taxis. But the district didn't ask to review any plane tickets, dinner tabs or hotel bills to make sure the costs were reasonable.
"We feel they have fairly assessed their costs. They have a proven track record," said District spokesperson Deb Haviland, explaning why school administrators have not requested any supporting documentation on the expenses. "These people are professional and they could not have survived years and decades if not conducting themselves in a professional manner."
It's not that the district isn't allowed to check out the records. The contract says "records of reimbursable expenses ... shall be available" to the district. School administrators just don't think its necessary to scrutinize such expenses, even though they have the right.
Kevin O'Brien, the business ethics professor, said he was surprised the district isn't more interested in accountability and verifying precisely how its money is spent to make sure the company isn't being extravagant with taxpayer dollars.
"I think it can be labeled as careless. I think it's a wake up call to do what is required: follow up, look at the documentation and look to see if they are valid expenses that the school district should pay."
School District 50 said it has no intention of asking for or reviewing travel receipts as the projects continue.
"We feel confident these dollars amounts are accurate," said school spokesperson Haviland.
Additional Information See the open records request by CBS4 that led to this story and the periodic invoices from the architectural firm.
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