EPISD Board of Trustees approve Independent Audit on Employee Pay Scales
By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2015, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
The Eagle Pass Independent School District (EPISD) Board of Trustees approved to hire an Independent Auditing Firm to conduct an audit of the District’s employee pay scale due to recent findings that one or more employees received compensation greater than their scheduled pay and salary at their May 12, 2015 meeting.
The EPISD discovered discrepancies with employee pay scale overcompensation lasting for more than one year with one or more District employees. The EPISD School Board initially discussed this important employee pay scale overcompensation issue at their April 14, 2015 meeting and reviewed the issue once again at their May 12th meeting.
At the April 14, 2015 Board meeting, EPISD Board President Ignacio “Nacho” Saucedo brought the issue to the EPISD Board of Trustees attention for discussion and possible action in light of the discovery of overpaying District employees for more than one year and the District’s failure to discover the discrepancies earlier.
“In the last couple of weeks, we have seen an issue where we do have an employee that was overpaid at a different pay scale than what should’ve been paid. I did bring this item to the Board because I do want to request an independent audit be conducted on district salaries to see if we’re not doing this with any other district employee and that there is not this type of oversight that we have such as the current six (6) year oversight and that it wasn’t caught until a couple of weeks ago,” said Saucedo at the April 14th meeting.
Saucedo noted that EPISD Deputy Superintendent for Business and Finances Ismael Mijares had sent out the information and that the supposed amount that was overpaid was $3,100 but that it was not an accumulative total and that it was closer to $20,000.
“I think it’s important that we be transparent to our community and I think this is a way of showing that we want to make sure that these oversights are not happening in any other department with any other employee,” added Saucedo.
Board of Trustee Rudy Bowles stated that he would like to hear Deputy Superintendent’s Ismael Mijares’ explanation as to why the auditing firm that performs the EPISD audits on a yearly basis did not catch this mistake. “They don’t check salaries?,” questioned Bowles.
Mijares replied to the Board that the District’s auditing firm would now be conducting risk assessments and would also increase the number of employees they would audit during the procedures that are taken during an audit. Mijares also stated that the error was done by one of the District’s supervisors.
The Board asked if there was an approximate cost for the proposed independent audit.
Mijares answered that not at present time because the District needed to conduct procedures such as a Request for Qualifications and Assessments for an Independent Audit.
Superintendent Gilberto Gonzalez noted that “Mr. Mijares made a good point when he stated that the existing auditor that the EPISD currently has because of this mistake or that’s human nature was found we are going to ask the present auditor to increase the number of samples and from there we can also gauge if we need further auditing. But of course whatever the wishes of the Board are we will support.”
“Mr. President I do believe it is needed and being fair with our employees and making sure that the pay is correct. So I’m in big favor of this action, Sir,” said Board member Humberto Torralba.
“What I do find troubling, and I understand that Mr. Gonzalez has cited human error, and that it happens. But this is an error that occurred for six (6) years and there was an oversight from the Department that racks up the most overtime than any other department in the district and they didn’t catch it. And that seems troubling to me,” said Saucedo.
“That is why I think it’s important that we bring in an independent auditor,” added Saucedo.
Bowles stated that an auditing firm that is performing an audit should look into the salaries and other things that come into play when an audit is concerned.
“If they oversaw or didn’t see what they were supposed to is another question. I think they should be notified and a letter should be sent to them stating that we now have to go through the expense of going with an RFQ for that particular reason,” said Board member Torralba.
Bowles concurred with Torralba’s and Saucedo’s sentiments on their concerns.
Mijares, EPISD legal counsel and the EPISD Board of Trustees further discussed what an audit entailed and the procedures needed to ascertain a better view of things such as the employee pay scales and if they are up to par to what is supposed to be in place.
“The auditors come in on a yearly basis and they do sort off a sampling. They don’t look at every salary of the district,” said Legal Counsel.
Board of Trustee Hilda Martinez stated concerning transparency if this had happened starting six (6) years ago, what has since then has been set in place as far as checks and balances that would reassure the Board that the audit being sought is not necessary. “Also, we would have to check all our 2,200 employees and we need to make sure that this does not happen anymore. So these are 2 different situations that we’re dealing with,” added Martinez.
“We have implemented procedures since this has happened. Several procedures were changed since 2011 and they have more checks and balances. That is a revision that we look at every year. We now have more stringent procedures. Now that this has happened we need to implement additional procedures that hopefully will reduce the risk factors,” said Mijares.
Mijares assured the Board of Trustees that after the incident had been pointed out that the District had revised the procedures.
Mijares explained the procedures as to how the pay scale is administered and the steps that are taken to access the proper pay schedule for the employees.
Mijares stated that those procedures are for the employees that go through the administrative departments and that the employee in question had not gone through those procedures as the employee had been hired by a former superintendent. “This was an employee that didn’t come through the School Board,” said Mijares.
“We have incorporated proper procedures,” added Mijares.
“What have you done internally to audit the past employees that are there?” asked Torralba.
Mijares stated that under the audit there had been a percentage that had been checked and that he and administration had revised the issue and that establishing corrective measures had been taken. “Why did this happen? That was the million dollar question?” said Mijares.
Mijares then further explained that an oversight was traced back to a supervisory position.
Mijares did state that only a certain percentage of the employees had been checked and that administration did not have the manpower to do such internal check.
Board of Trustee Lupita Fuentes commented on the issue. “Just for sake of transparency, I just want to make sure that everyone understands the paperwork that was done on the employee was signed and also salary was assigned and signed by at that time the superintendent who was a human resources person. And all the paperwork everything was correct. It was a supervisor who when that employee transferred that information made that mistake and unfortunately it went on for 6 years. It was a considerable amount of money. But I just wanted to make sure that it is understood that all the paperwork was submitted correct and that it was the individual employee who made that mistake.”
A motion to vote to authorize the RFQ process to move forth was then asked from Board President Saucedo.
Board Trustee Humberto Torralba made the motion to go after RFQ’s for an independent auditor.
The motion then died due to not gaining a second for consideration of vote during the meeting held on Tuesday April 14, 2015.
The issue once again made its way into the EPISD Board of Trustees agenda for the meeting held on May 12, 2015.
During the new discussion held on May 12, 2015, Saucedo stated that recently there have been another three (3) employees that were discovered to have been overpaid as well and that is the reason that he has brought the issue back for consideration.
EPISD Board of Trustee Lupita Fuentes made the motion to approve the agenda item which was seconded by Board of Trustee Humberto Torralba.
Board of Trustee Rudy Bowles stated that he was on the cautious side due to the amount of money that would possibly be spent on such audit and if it would actually yield a bigger issue surpassing the amount being spent on the actual audit due to the closed scope of the audit of only one fiscal year.
The School Board discussed the reasonableness of setting an audit and how it would be conducted in order to find true discrepancies by tracking employee payroll filed salaries and other forms including set classifications and the many variables in place to ascertain true discrepancies.
Deputy Superintendent Ismael Mijares stated that revised procedures and controls that were set in place are catching those discrepancies under the 2014/2015 fiscal year.
Trustee Bowles stated that it is important to check 2014/2015 and assure that the procedures set are actually working and if not then they should proceed with further actions of backtracking thoroughly into past fiscal years.
The EPISD Board of Trustees then proceeded to vote in favor of issuing out Request for Qualifications (RFQ’s) proposals for an independent audit on district employee pay scale and salaries to assure conformance with the District’s salary scale for fiscal year 2014/ 2015.
As of May 12th, the District discovered at least four (4) employees had received overcompensation or discrepancies with their employee pay scale and salaries.
Taxpayers are very concerned regarding the negligent administration of the District of local, state, and federal funds by the Eagle Pass Independent School District and its past and present administrations. Taxpayers demand accountability and transparency regarding the expenditures of their hard earned tax dollars.
