The-Leader_2005-09-29

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Freeport School Board sues firms-
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70th Year, No. 39 Freeport, N.Y. 11520
The Community Newspaper
Thursday, September 29, 2005 50<>
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Care to dance?
LET'S DANCE: A group of the Dual Language program students perfornn the Cumbia, a dance that originated in Columbia, but that has spread to other nations in Latin America.
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SANITARY DISTRICT 2 AUDIT
Joan Delaney
No fraud was found in the audit of Sanitary District Number TXvo.
The resuhs of a 3 5-page audit by Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman showed no fraud in the sani­tary district. There were, however, 12 categories of comments with recommen­dations for improvements to cut costs and guard against the potential for unau­thorized transactions or the misuse of public funds.
The audit covers the fiscal years of 2003 and 2004 and deals with the dis­trict's administrative policies, proce­dures, and expenses; procurement prac­tices and contract monitoring, as well as an analysis of operating costs and the appropriateness of its fund balance.
Robert Noble, secretary to the board of commissioners of the sanitary district, described the audit itself as fair but said that the tone and rhetoric of the comp­troller's press release and press confer­ence, and the selective, out-of-context examples used, "lend themselves to the comptroller's motives." He indicated that the board would be adjusting some of its accounting practices to tighten up con­trols and would take other recommenda­tions under advisement. He stressed, however, that residents should be aware that there was no fraud and no misuse of public funds.
The audit reflects a 36-day on-site study by a team of auditors that was con­ducted by the comptroller as part of his selective audits of sanitary districts. He uses the audit as the basis for his belief that the individual sanitary districts should be dissolved. He does not, how­ever, emphasize the differences in serv­ices among sanitary districts nor men­tion at all the differences in property assessments as contributing factors for the varying tax rates.
It is this lack of context that Mr. Noble cites as misleading. "The greatest con­tributing factor to the difference in taxes between sanitary districts is the different property tax bases, not spending."
Among the items particularly noted by the audit is the failure to bid certain con­tracts, particularly the insurance contract with Koch Insurance of Baldwin. The district has used Koch Insurance since 1978, without competitive bidding since 1998. The premiums and fees for insur­ance were $2.2 million in 2004 and $1.8 million in 2003, which represent 25 per­cent and 23 percent respectively of the total budget.
The comptroller states that the sani­tary district is overinsured and particu­larly cites failure to use the New York State Health Insurance Plan (NYSHIP) which he claims would save the district over $600,000 per year.
The sanitary district notes that its
LATIN LANDS: Students briefly discussed each countryin Latin America and Spain, in their bi-lingual presentation. Dual Language Program teachers are: Carrie Frederick-Muchnick, Robbi Berry, Luz Fernandez, Carol Smith and Luz Velazquez.
decision not to use NYSHIP was based on a difference in the quality of the coverage. Referring to fees, it particularly points to a savings of $1.2 million over nine years in the use of Koch Insurance to manage the district's Risk Retention and Workers Compensation. In its comments in the Appendix of the audit, the sanitary district states, "The audit's conclusions and criti­cism of the role of the district's insurance broker is distorted and seemingly deliber­ately misleading."
In comments to The Leader, Mr. Noble said that the sanitary district does conduct an informal bidding process but said that it will now require that Koch Insurance pro­vide it with the actual quotes from insur­ance carriers.
Another major category of dispute is the sanitary district's categorizing its two attor­neys and commissioners as full-time employees. Since the labor attorney and
general counsel also have private practices, the auditors state that they should be viewed as consultants.
Mr. Noble noted that these positions are in accordance with Nassau County Civil Service job titles and job descriptions which categorize them as full time. They also comply with New York State regula­tions. Neither attorney is part of the state pension system.
The audit also criticizes the "half-day of work" for workers despite "a collective bar­gaining agreement that defines their work­week as 40 hours: 10 hours per day, four days a week."
Mr. Noble explained," According to the
contract, those positions are 'task jobs.' The
forty hour reference is to guard against
unusual circumstances in which overtime
might be necessary but would not kick in
until a worker first put in 40 hours. That
was explained to the auditors."
(continued on page 5)