SCHOOL PURCHASING Audit: Campbell coach owes money

Four vendors remain unpaid as a result of the unauthorized purchases.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CAMPBELL -- Varsity track coach Mark Greene must reimburse the city school district $7,645 raised during a school candy sale but never deposited into school accounts.
That revelation came in an audit for fiscal 2003 released Tuesday.
In addition to the findings for recovery Auditor of State Betty Montgomery's office issued against Greene, the auditor's office cited Greene for a violation of the district's purchasing policy.
Greene, according to the auditor's office, entered into several agreements with vendors for athletic shoes, uniforms, T-shirts and a banquet, without obtaining consent from the board of education, securing purchase orders, or having the treasurer certify that funds were available as required by the district. Amounts owed those vendors exceed $9,000.
"We always follow through on these audit reports and we will go after him for the funds," said Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains. "It's up to him [what happens next]. He can make arrangements to repay what is owed or we can sue him."
Greene was unavailable to comment.
Lacked authorization
As required by the school district, Greene completed the paperwork securing permission to conduct the candy sale last spring, said Patricia J. McLaughlin, treasurer, "but he was not authorized to order those other things. And," she added, "the vendors were not authorized to accept an order from him without a purchase order."
What became of the goods is also a mystery, McLaughlin said. "We assume that the track uniforms were used by the track team, but there's nothing left but a mishmosh of items."
Four vendors remain unpaid as a result of the unauthorized purchases. According to the audit, amounts owed range from $790 to $5,925.
As for the missing candy sale money, the audit indicates that Greene ordered 8,040 candy bars at 45 cents apiece. The candy bars were to be sold for $1 apiece. Because no unsold candy was returned, the track team should have collected $8,040, the audit report states, but only $395 was turned to the treasurer for deposit.
"Based on the interview conducted with the track coach," the report says, "total monies collected for the candy sales was $3,600."
That leaves $3,205 unaccounted for and $4,440 due but uncollected, the audit states.
Some of the candy was supposedly stolen from a room in the elementary school where it was being stored, McLaughlin said, but no police report was filed.
Haphazard records
At one point, the audit says, Greene made a mass deposit of checks "that appeared to include monies for candy sales, track shoes, warm-ups, T-shirts and the athletic banquet." Based on the records provided, the report continues, "it could not be determined how much should have been collected for these endeavors nor how much in total was actually collected."
To avoid similar situations, auditors recommend that the school district have each employee sign copies of the purchasing policy and maintain the signed copies in each employee's personnel file. The district should also inform vendors that purchase orders are required for all district obligations.
McLaughlin said booklets containing the district's purchasing policy are distributed routinely at the start of every school year.
The board has not yet discussed disciplinary action against Greene.
kubik@vindy.com