I have known Town CFO and Treasurer Ray Jankowski for more than 15 years and know him to be a quiet, gentle man who avoids the limelight and the fray. No one's dupe, he does his job expertly and efficiently with a small, excellent staff and pays close attention to and abides by all applicable laws and accounting procedures.
Thus the tone of the letter that he wrote today to the BOE and JeanAnn Paddyfote came as a surprise. In a scathing rebuke of what he describes as the use of "an improper budgeting technique," Ray makes accusations of what in my opinion clearly amount to malfeasance.
Insisting that this "budgeting technique end immediately," he wrote, "this is not the result of poor guesswork but [was] deliberate and with purpose that could never be attained under the rules imposed by my office using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles on the funding of an Internal Service Fund."
Let's put this in context. This is only one account. One portion of a bloated budget for which no one is held accountable and which I would guess that no one except Bill Wellman understands. Can you imagine what Ray would find if all of the books were open to him?
Mr. Jankowski has the power and the authority to take over the BOE Finance Department or to hire someone for it who reports to him. Such dire changes are long overdue.
This is very, very serious. The person or persons who are responsible for this ought to retain an attorney forthwith.
21 comments:
WOW!!!!
And what was the reaction of the BoE? To summarize, long time (too long) administrator Tom Mulvehill said, "We have to go on the offensive." Chairwoman Leeza Diamond couldn't have been less interested and none of them even understood the issue. At least the woman who works at the hospital admitted that she didn't get it. Wellman asked pointed questions and asked for answers. Will he get them? Probably not. Where is Julie Turk on this issue?
The exposure of this accounting debacle shows that it is time, effective immediately, that the Town of New Milford Finance Department, under the aegis of Ray Jankowski, immediately take over the finances of the Board of Education and that all accounting and payments associated with the Board of Education be done through his staff.
As the Mayor has proposed in the past to save the taxpayers money, all accounting should be done under one department. The state laws allow the Board line item control and this wouldn't change that but each line must be examined by the finance director for its accuracy and all bills must be paid through his office so that at the close of the fiscal year the audit reflects the actual cost of the goods and services that are necessary to provide the right education for the children of New Milford. The taxpayers are owed this transparancy and certification that their hard earned tax dollars are being used properly.
And this is the crux of the matter for me. There are such things as generally accepted accounting principles. This BOE ignores all of them; runs on guesswork, estimations, and feely-touchy processes.
I refuse to vote YES on **any** school budget until sanity returns to the BOE's accounting procedures.
Yes, Leeza, the public notices.
The fact that Mr. Jankowski brought up issues that pre-date Diamond should leave her out of this discussion. However, others are probably in need of answering questions.
It is interesting, however, that Mr. Jankowski is suddenly interested in an account that he has only two years of records for. Why hasn't he kept better records of an account he "suppposedly" administers, and is only now concerned about? Is this sudden concern because people are now asking questions? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Any account should have records longer than two years. I'd say Mr. Jankowski has a good deal of explaining to do, too.
Do I think someone is padding their expense account with this $$? No. But I'm concerned that it's not being properly managed, and we're not getting a fair return. THE TAXPAYERS WANT TO KNOW!
No one should be surprised by this revelation. The giant bureaucracy that is BOE has been effective at marginalizing its critics,enemies and constituents that dare to challenge the "machine". Under the guise of "helping the children" this monopoly provides less than zero return on taxpayer money. Not because the children do not learn. But simply because the total expense including borrowed money and legacy costs are pushed forward to be paid by people who may not even live in New Milford.The minuscule capitol ultimately created by educated citizens that may be returned to the private sector to invest in productive enterprises will never generate enough return to justify the original expense. That is the crux of the evils of government.It is less than a zero sum game. That is why the founding fathers fought so hard to limit the size and scope of government.
Jay, I have some questions. First, were there any people from the BoE finance department at the meeting that Ray Jankowski referred to in his letter or was it just diamond, him and the mayor?
Next, if it's true, why can't jankowski come up with records for more than 2 years?
And to the last poster, WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT AN EXPENSE ACCOUNT. We're talking about millions of dollars.
This should not be a shock. Past members of the BOE complained Mr. Corbett lacked the necessary background to handle the accounting of the schools. He is indeed a nice man but no credentials for his position. The Board of Ed needs to step up to the plate and open the books so the CFO, Mr Jankowski, can see them. I urge Leeza and all members of the BOE, dont resist this, it only makes you part of the problem. You are there because of the voters. You have an ethical, moral and fiduciary responsiblity to them only, not to any employee.
Well since there are no specifics other then accusations. (which is typical in this town). I would like to see what GAAP rules he is referring to.
Last time I checked, GAAP doesn't apply to budgets. Only accounting, financial realization and reporting
I'll admit there might be something I don't know about on the Government level.
I would doubt they need a lawyer btw
To Adult Voter: You are so right on all counts. I hope that a lot of people read what you wrote and pay attention!
Right on.
If you think this is all on the BOE side, you are being side tracked. It's the town that has managed this $$, and it's "moved" $2.4 million. It's listed as a "receiveable," but that just means it is owed to this fund from another account.
If Mr. Jankowski was so disturbed by this, why did he wait until 2008 to bring it up? This fund has been in existence for 15 - 20 years.
I agree with an earlier poster, that it is not likely that anyone is lining their pockets with this money. However, there's some accounting monkey biz going on, and we want to know about it now.
I don't think it is isolated to the BOE side at all. They both played the "look at all the money we found!" game right after the budget passed and the insurance bid came back alot less than assumed. The town side does the same thing but is alot less in your face about it.
There is also less fat on the town side of the budget. It is indeed managed better although not perfectly. That is because it is managed not blindly rubber stamped by a group of cheerleaders and myopic PTO groupies.
Attention "We Won't Get Fooled Again"
You are mistaken on all counts; read tomorrow's NT and Friday's Spectrum.
Unfortunately, you'd know a lot more if Tom Corbett had explained ALL that he knows at the BOE Meeting where this issue was first raised.
And re-read his letter.
...I meant, re-read Ray's letter.
WOW!!!is all I can say. I believe that the Finance Office, Mayor's Office or any other department in the Town Hall would answer questions openly with anyone who asks about their budget. The same can not be said for the BOE Budget. They have never answered the hard questions or have just ignored them. I believe that the txpayers have only to know that their taxes are being watched over. Congratulations to Ray and anyone else who finally brought this to the forefront. Now maybe it can be fixed.
Jay is right -Read the letter
Jankowski says the school administration deliberately despite his warning underestimated the money retirees would be paying for medical. Surely the admins know how many retirees they have - or maybe they can't count -
That means we were ALL overtaxed, We are talking millions overpaid.
kids paid to play sports when they did not have to and some kids quit sports because they could not afford to pay.
Shameful
Programs were slashed, class sizes went up. Kids shut out of science labs.
Every taxpayer should be demanding a public accounting of every dollar.
Note to Diamond: School board members should ALL be demanding explanations instead of circling the wagons to protect an inept school administration.
Auditors have said the school finance office was understaffed and unprepared for new accounting rules going into effect.
Go to town hall - the audits are all there in the town clerk's office, and the words are there.
This was an old slush fund for the admin, but someone forgot to tell board members who kept harping on the subject of missing money -(watch the meeting tapes they play for insomniacs)
Now the dirty little secret is out and I won't be voting for a school budget until some heads roll.
lets not forget Pay to Play!!!!!
It is time to put the entire town and BOE finance departments under one person who can be held accountable. Stop the annual shell games.
While we are at, it let's put the BOE maintenance under the town and realize the cost savings from the elimination of overhead and duplicated functions in both of these departments.
IF PAY TO PLAY COMES BACK, WE SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF OURSELVES, AND OUR NEWLY ELECTED BOE FOR LETTING IT HAPPEN AGAIN.
WE HAVE NO IDEA HOW THIS HURTS OUR TOWN, IT'S IMAGE AND THE MORALE OF OUR CITIZENS.
I AGREE MR. JANKOWSKI SHOULD TAKE OVER THE EDUCATION BUDGET. HE HAS THE SKILLS TO GET OUR FINANCIAL HOUSE INORDER. THE TAX PAYERS AND OUR CHILDREN DESERVE THAT AT THE VERY LEAST.
IF WE CAN MAKE THIS CHANGE AND STOP THIS YEARLY CAT AND MOUSE BATTLE. WE CAN GO BACK TO BEING PRODUCTIVE AND KEEP A POSITIVE TONE IN OUR TOWN.
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