Montgomery County government is adding a “second layer” of oversight to its embattled tuition assistance program to ensure that taxpayers aren’t paying for county employees to attend courses of questionable value, county officials said Monday.
Office of Human Resources Director Joseph Adler told a County Council panel Monday that employee applications to receive up to $1,730 in county money for off-duty classes or training are now being reviewed at least twice before being approved.
In additional to a human resources staff member reviewing applications, a manager also will look over applications to make sure they are legitimate, Adler said. The new policy started last week.
The tuition assistance program came under fire in July when Sheriff Raymond Kight alerted county officials that a training company may be using a money from program to offer steep discounts on guns to county employees. The county has suspended payments to the company, but both the county attorney and the inspector general said they are looking at “systemic” problems with the overall program.
One potential problem county officials have identified is the ability of police officers and firefighters to sign up for outside training or courses without receiving the approval of their immediate supervisor, which is required of other county employees.
County officials also have questioned the relevance of some of the courses. In one case, a crossing guard who was working toward an associate’s degree in arts was approved to take a class in portrait and fashion photography.
County policy allows employees to take an outside course or training if it related to the employee’s job or desired job with the county.
Adler added that as part of his office’s review, officials try to determine who owns the companies that offer training. Two county police officers and an employee with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are listed in state incorporation records as owners of one of the training companies that the sheriff’s office said may have misused the funds.
Officials have said they are examining whether the policy prohibiting employees from owning or working for a company that contracts with the county department where they work has been broken.
