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Sunday, August 03, 2014

Montgomery County School Board Overhauls Spending Policy

WASHINGTON -- Facing intense criticism, the Montgomery County Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to overhaul its spending and reimbursement policy.

Board members have come under fire for the way in which they utilize taxpayer- funded credit cards. Among items they charged were dinners that cost hundreds of dollars and expensive hotel stays.

The board assembled a committee to investigate the issue and worked with an outside attorney as well.

"It was clear that our expense processes and procedures were weak and were not always followed," said Phil Kauffman, president of the board.

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18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wicomico Cty should try this process. Lol, fat chance!

Anonymous said...

12:49
Exactly. They took away their credit cards because they were misusing them. WCBOE should do the same thing! No more free lunches.

JoeAlbero said...

Have we NOT proven a TON of abuse right here in Wicomico County?

Your County Executive is NOT a Leader. He is a typical politician who has NO experience and or clue as to how to manage or run a business.

In fact, so much so we have PROVEN incredible abuse right from his own Office with the same kind of expenses.

If ANY one of us spent one tenth of what ALL of these people are spending and abusing we would be fired from our jobs and possible placed in Jail.

Good for Montgomery County and guess what, the EXPOSURE there has been NOTHING compared to what we have delivered here on the Shore.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry Joe but we don't have the responsible types on our board. In fact we have at least a couple of those who retired from the WCBOE. Does Montgomery County have an elected board?

Anonymous said...

It won't happen at the Wicomico County Board of Education. Dr. Fredericksen is all for spending money on wining and dining because he and his staff get to eat high on the hog. Of course the appointed Board president is going to approve of the wasteful spending because he came from the school system and spent money with credit cards as well.

These credit cards need to be turned in and if they need to feed someone then they can get the cafeteria to prepare them food. If the kids get fed breakfast, lunch and dinner then the school system is already preparing food. Are they to good to eat at the cafeteria?

Anonymous said...

Bingo! Montgomery board is elected but the Democrats won't agree to take it forward in Annapoli for Wicomico County. OLD Norm Conway"bring it back to the shore" has benefited for years.

Anonymous said...

elected BoD in WorCo is no better than those political appointees
all these people are teaching our kids what PUBLIC SERVICE is all about OINK OINK

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
elected BoD in WorCo is no better than those political appointees
all these people are teaching our kids what PUBLIC SERVICE is all about OINK OINK

July 30, 2014 at 1:43 PM

Huh?

WTF is a BoD?

Anonymous said...

It's what one lives in.A BoD

Anonymous said...

Can someone please tell me why they think an elected school board is needed?

Anonymous said...

If the school board is elected, one term of acting like the superintendent's lackey would be the end of someone's time on the board. As it is now, the member decides if he or she would like another term no matter how ineffective the person has been.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
If the school board is elected, one term of acting like the superintendent's lackey would be the end of someone's time on the board. As it is now, the member decides if he or she would like another term no matter how ineffective the person has been.

July 30, 2014 at 5:09 PM

The terms are 5 years and they can only serve 2 terms. Most don't make it to 2 terms anyway. I don't know why you want to waste all this time and money pushing for an elected school board. What's going to happen is all Democrats retired from the school system are going to get elected and you are going to piss and moan about that. Then a Republican governor gets elected and you are going to want an appointed school board.

Anonymous said...

Who wants to do all that work as a BOE member for no pay? Come on people think about it.

Anonymous said...

the county council holds the purse strings. cut their budget until they have to change their ways.

wasting our tax dollars is NOT acceptable. period.

Anonymous said...

Yea, why would anyone want to make members of the Board of Education responsible to voters? (Sarcasm)

It's bizarre to me that people in Wicomico County do not care if their Board of Education is appointed by the governor. We are 1 of only 3 counties with an appointed school board. Not to mention that the quickest growing voter registration is unaffiliated, but only the Republican and Democrat central committees get to put forth names to fill vacancies.

You do realize that the Board of Education spends about 50% of the county budget, right? Literally, half of our county taxes is spent and we have zero leverage to force the board to tighten it's belt.

This is 100% thanks to Norm Conway.

Anonymous said...

9:39pm - It's not NO pAY, It's about $ 2800, ANNUALLY!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
9:39pm - It's not NO pAY, It's about $ 2800, ANNUALLY!

July 31, 2014 at 7:21 AM

Like the commenter said it's NO PAY!

Who would want to work their butts off almost daily and get a stipend of $2,800. It would cost more than that to run an effective campaign.

I have a question Mr. 7:21 AM are you going to run for an elected school board member and get paid the measly $2,800 annually. I don't think you realize how much work is involved in the job of a Board Member? Just saying. Do you?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
the county council holds the purse strings. cut their budget until they have to change their ways.

wasting our tax dollars is NOT acceptable. period.

July 30, 2014 at 10:54 PM

That's correct. People constantly attack the BOE members, but they are quick to forget that 7 County Council Members and 1 County executive approves and gives them the money to spend.