06 Feb Analysis: Auditor General Drove Schools Probe

It has been a rough two and a half years for the Scranton School District.  The recent arrests of former business administrator Gregg Sunday and former fleet manager Daniel Sansky can be traced to an October 2017 audit report issued by Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale.

“It’s clear the corruption we discovered affected student education by taking at least $1 million in taxpayer funds out of the classroom, causing teacher furloughs, and cutting back programs such as art and music,” said DePasquale in response to Sunday’s arrest last week.

Sunday was charged with conflict of interest after an investigation revealed that the Scranton School District was paying for automobile work on his personal vehicles.  The investigation found that Sansky claimed to provide “free work” on Sunday’s vehicles, but then billed the school district for this work.  The billing was then approved by Sunday in his capacity as Deputy Superintendent of Finance.  In October, Sansky was indicted on first-degree felony charges for overbilling and double-billing for work performed on district vehicles by his auto repair shop, Danny’s Auto Service.

The 107-page audit, released in October 2017, contained 38 recommendations and nine findings, including:

Over 12 years, the district circumvented payment procedures, improperly provided health benefits, and failed to issue required Internal Revenue Service and Pennsylvania Department of Revenue tax documents for a mechanic performing services as a non-employee of the district.

Between 2010 and 2016 the district paid the mechanic $672,321. Payments to the mechanic for 2005 through 2009 could not be determined because district officials said those records were unavailable beyond the seven year retention period.

Auditors also found that the mechanic submitted vague invoices for payment directly to the district’s business manager, instead of through the maintenance office, which could have documented that the services were indeed completed. Purchase orders were prepared by the chief financial officer after the invoices were submitted to the district.

“I commend Attorney General Shapiro for swiftly taking action on my audit findings,” said DePasquale.  “Collectively, we are using our resources to weed out corruption, stop this abuse of tax dollars and to help restore public confidence.”