Last year’s school audits are out and some figures may be surprising.
- Pasco County addressing missing items from inventory
- Missing or misplaced items were valued at $568,719
More than 500 items are missing from Pasco County schools. The 2014-15 fiscal year audit revealed that the missing or misplaced items were valued at $568,719.
“It's a problem when employees are not keeping track of the equipment, we have a process in place and it's not being following, the paperwork is not being completed," said district spokesperson, Linda Cobbe.
Compare that figure to neighboring Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.
Pinellas County Schools had $88,693 missing from its inventory for last school year. Hillsborough County does its inventory by quarter. Its most recent number was $32,192 in missing items. Both much less than Pasco County.
“It is a problem, it needs to be addressed, needs to be found out, and removed because we do have good schools up here," said parent, Erik Madison.
That’s the goal for the district.
It recently assigned two full time positions dedicated to inventory control and a new electronic system.
“It was developed in house so that individuals can move property around without having to worry about paperwork,” said Cobbe. “You just fill it out online and hit send and it’s tracked that way."
The district believes this will be a significant help in bringing down the high number of misplaced items.
The district says about 75% of the items are computer and computer support equipment. Since the audit it has been recovering some of the misplaced items.