21 September 2022
Component 2 of a 3-part review was released publicly, and shows more spending issues inside the Lexington Richland 5 College District. IRMO, S. D. — Lexington-Richland 5 offers released the second phase of its economic audit to the public. Table chairwoman Jan Hammond states the financial audit discloses more misspending and a insufficient oversight by former planks on construction projects. Stage II of the audit explores all spending from 2016 until 2020. The main part of the audit shows overspending on the construction of Piney Woods Elementary. The school had been built during 2019 : 2021 utilizing 8% connection money. The project expenses exceeded the $30 mil dollars the district lent which caused the public in order to question what happened to their taxes dollars. RELATED: School region changes purchasing card plan after audit finds misusesThat’s something Board Chair January Hammond hopes never occurs again. “The period of this particular audit was not during [Superintendent] Dr . Ross’s time in office. I have offered on the board for sixteen years, and have been requesting this audit to happen for a long period. I’m proud of this panel for trying to be since transparent as we can plus giving taxpayers the truth, inch Hammond said. There is also a area in the audit regarding integrity violations and complaints. Various former board members had been mentioned throughout the audit, yet have been cleared of any kind of ethics violations. RELATED: Lexington-Richland 5 to arm region security team, adding to police force responseNow that this part of the review is published Hammond states the board will convert their findings over to their state Attorney General’s office and everything other legal authorities that needs to be involved. Hammond says the particular district is having their attorney review work with former suppliers and contractors to see when there is any overpaid money they could get back. “If we could display any place that we were overcharged… by a vendor, hopefully, they might make that right, inch Hammond said. The next phase from the audit will be over a smaller time period, and the district is definitely hoping to release it towards the public before the end associated with December. RELATED: Lexington Richland 5 attorney calls area ‘dysfunctional’