Audit shows loose finances, violations of state law at New College

New College of Florida overpaid faculty and administrators, accidentally paid vendors more than once and failed to collect more than $160,000 in student payments, according to a state report chronicling the school’s financial activities in recent years.

The practices were among several negative findings — including violations of state law — in the state auditor general’s most recent operational audit of the university.

The report, which was filed last week, audited transactions and records mostly between January and December 2022, prior to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointment of six new trustees to the university’s board, who soon ousted the former president with hopes to recast the school. It also included some records that led to or stemmed from financial activities in 2022.

The audit points to an array of issues.

Two findings said New College violated state law by providing extra compensation payments to faculty and paid administrators more than the cap that state law requires.

The report said the university had determined some faculty members were inadvertently paid an additional biweekly salary during the 2020-21 year. To equalize that, New College made a one-time lump sum payment in July 2023 — after the new board and president were in place — to 25 eligible faculty members who had not received those payments.

The payments, however, constituted extra compensation that is prohibited by state law because of how they were rendered. The university also did not properly report the compensation and made wrong contributions to retirement accounts.

State law also caps paying administrative employees more than $200,000 out of state funds.

The college paid former president Patricia Okker $390,391 during the 2021-22 fiscal year, including $236,073 from public funds. When the board fired her and amended her contract last year, she began a yearlong sabbatical and was paid $384,868. Of that, $231,092 came from state funds. The report also pointed to another administrator who was paid $18,874 above that limit.

The report says university officials agreed New College’s Foundation should have reimbursed the university for the funds above the $200,000 cap, and it would develop procedures to “reduce the risk of a recurrence of the oversight.” It says as of June 18, no reimbursements had been made.

Another finding said the university needed greater control over contracts and payments, pointing to an instance where the university contracted with a vendor providing disaster recovery services.

New College overpaid the vendor by almost $15,000 and “did not always reconcile vendor invoice costs to university-authorized costs before payments were made,” the audit said. In some instances, charges were duplicated, and while the report says the university corrected some overpayments, it failed to “promptly submit” the corrected invoices to the proper entities.

The report also said the university did not always make timely efforts to collect payments from students with delinquent accounts. They found 173 students owed a collective $163,626.

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The university wrote in its response it had relaxed its collection policies due to hardship caused by the pandemic, but had returned to its prepandemic policies.

The audit also called for greater controls over the use of purchasing cards, “negotiating, monitoring and documenting the reasonableness of construction management entity general condition costs” and demonstrating that subcontractors were appropriately licensed before beginning construction work.

The university has acknowledged all of the findings and begun to take corrective action to establish new protocols, according to the report.

Every state university is periodically audited by the auditor general’s office. Last year, an operational audit of the University of Florida had one negative finding, that university records “did not always demonstrate that the university properly contracted for minor construction projects or monitored the projects to ensure required bids were obtained” for certain trade packages exceeding $75,000. USF also had one finding, that it had collected $8.6 million in excess distance learning fees.

In a letter to the auditor general, New College President Richard Corcoran wrote the recommendations “will support the university’s efforts to maintain a strong control environment, compliance with all Florida statutes and efficient financial operations.”