Amidst fiscal slip-ups, Hamilton County Mathematics and Science Academy now faces a financial reckoning. Audit findings released Tuesday by state auditors exposed improper payments made by the school's treasurer, Dan Mpagi, for sales tax, late fees, and bank overdraft charges. According to the official audit report, a sum of $4,655.93 is on the line.
Missteps in fiscal management led to the Ohio academy inadvertently spending $3,517.93 on sales tax—a cost they were exempt from—attributable to debit card transactions made by employees in the 2020 fiscal year. While the school should have been free of this tax burden, auditors determined that the treasurer, who was entrusted with the guardianship of the academy's finances, should have sought restitution for these unwarranted expenses from the vendors or the Ohio Tax Commissioner.
The academy's financial woes didn't just end with sales tax errors. Timely payments for utilities and contractual obligations seemed to have slipped past due dates, racking up $880 in late fees. Added to their list of fiscal misjudgments was an additional $258 in bank overdraft fees, suggesting a pattern of oversight lapses in managing the institution's accounts.
Assigned with the brunt of the responsibility, Mpagi and his bonding company were found to be jointly and severally liable for the majority of the recovered funds. On a lesser note, it was Dwan Moore, the academy principal, who found her hands tied with $36 of the impropriety, a debt she has since settled, according to auditors.
The audit covering July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020, clearly reflected that educational institutions are not immune to the mundane yet critical web of financial management. Tax exemptions, bank fees, and the timely payment of bills are small cogs in the clockwork of a fiscally responsible entity. As Hamilton County Mathematics and Science Academy treads forward, the lesson at hand stretches beyond mathematics and science—it's a real-world tutorial in the importance of due diligence in financial stewardship.
