Norwich school board authorizes forensic audit of retiree insurance program
Norwich — The Board of Education on Tuesday night authorized Superintendent Kristen Stringfellow to conduct a forensic audit of the school district’s retiree insurance benefits “to review financial issues related to participation and payments” after questions arose in those areas.
The board voted following a lengthy executive session, which also included contract negotiations pertaining to two unions, to authorize Stringfellow to work with the board’s law firm, Shipman and Goodwin LLP, to hire an independent forensic auditor to review the retiree insurance benefit program and provide recommendations on protocols and procedures. The board authorized spending up to $24,000 on the issues.
Contacted Wednesday for information about the vote, Stringfellow read a prepared written statement.
“Questions arose regarding participation and payments related to retiree insurance benefits,” she said. “Some errors may have occurred in the implementation of those programs, so in the interest of fiscal prudence, the Board of Education believed it was appropriate to coordinate with our legal counsel to retain an independent forensic auditor to review these issues. We do not have reasons to believe at this time that any funds were misused. At this point it would be premature to comment further.”
The retiree insurance benefit is provided to about 125 retirees, school Business Administrator Athena Nagel said. Information was not immediately available Wednesday on how much the benefit program costs the district each year.
Stringfellow said she could not comment on specifics of the possible errors and how they were discovered. She said it’s unclear at this time how far back the forensic audit will go or an estimated completion time.
Newly elected board Chairwoman Heather Romanski said Wednesday the board has little information at this time on the potential errors, but she said she does not think it is a major issue at this point. She said the board did not set a deadline for hearing back on the audit results because the firm has not yet been identified and hired.
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