A special investigation by the State Auditor’s office found issues with the record-keeping for several school activity accounts in Maquoketa.
State Auditor Mary Mosiman says it started after someone who had purchased fruit from FFA chapter’s fundraiser reported their check had never been cashed. She says that check wasn’t the only issue, as the district found various checks that were undeposited.
Her audit found $20,138 of checks that hadn’t been deposited. The audit covered a six-year period from 2011 through 2017.
Mosiman says poor records were kept by the FFA advisor Gary Bruns and that was part of the problem. She says they were trying to determine if each of the activity accounts were using the proper procedures and checked some of those accounts. Mosiman says other accounts in the Maquoketa district also had problems with the record keeping and handling of receipts.
Mosiman says the investigation did not make a determination if any of the money in the FFA fundraiser account was taken illegally from the district.
“We did not call anything improper, we only titled it undeposited collections — which is a common finding such as this,” according to Mosiman. She says activity accounts are something that comes up quite often with school districts. Mosiman says it is important for districts to have the procedures in place so the money is used in the proper way.
Copies of the report have also been filed with the Division of Criminal Investigation, the Jackson County Attorney’s Office, and the Attorney General’s Office.
Here’s the full report: Maquoketa-Investigation-PDF