Maury County School Superintendent Chris Marczak reportedly mismanaged his school-issued credit card, and he had to return it to the school system.
This, according to The Columbia Daily Herald, which reported Marczak improperly and incorrectly filed expense reports.
School system officials did not return The Tennessee Star’s repeated requests for comment Wednesday.
The Daily Herald, however, provided in-depth information.
“Records obtained by The Daily Herald reveal that of the 32 transactions charged since March to the credit card, 29 were filed incorrectly. The documented period included more than $2,800 in transactions for airline tickets, ride-hailing services, hotel rooms and purchases made at local restaurants in Maury County,” according to the paper.
“The card, in possession of the superintendent and his assistant, was associated with more errors and improper documentation than any other card used by the county’s departments, according to the county finance department. In violation of the county’s policy, the superintendent and his office repeatedly used the card without obtaining purchase orders, turned in expense reports past deadline, used incorrect account codes associated with purchases and did not record all the transactions that occurred on the card. The reports also failed to include detailed receipts of the transactions.”
The Daily Herald went on to report that no one used any of this taxpayer money on personal expenses.
“Correspondence between the superintendent and Maury County Director of Finance Doug Lukonen showed that the superintendent was told to turn in the credit card that it would be held for use upon request at the county’s financial office,” according to the paper.
“The messages also indicates the superintendent did not attend an information session regarding the use of credit cards.”
This is not the first time this school system has had financial irregularities.
As The Star reported in March, the Internal Revenue Service has assessed nearly $400,000 in penalties and interests against the Maury County School Department, according to an audit Tennessee Comptrollers released at the time.
The fines and penalties come from 2016 and 2017, according to the audit.
County taxpayers, of course, were the ones who had to foot the bill.
Also, in the audit, Comptrollers said credit card charges at the county’s Board of Education did not have proper supporting documentation.
Auditors said they reviewed all credit card transactions for the period July 1, 2017 through April 13, 2018. Auditors said they reviewed available documentation for 160 credit card transactions totaling $56,266 and that several charges did not have proper supporting documentation.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Mary County Public Schools” by Mary County Public Schools.
Probably not his fault because he is a product of public schools and just never learned better.
Fire the bum.
And this is just Maury County!