The University of Maryland Baltimore County, despite nationally recognized academic strides, has a rash of oversight problems ranging from abuse of employee credit cards to improper refunds for students who weren’t even paying for their courses, according to a new state audit. Over two and a half years ending last June, the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits found numerous “questionable purchases” through credit cards on which employees spent nearly $15 million just in fiscal 2011. One employee used a card to obtain $4,400 in gift cards — prohibited by state rules — prompting a subsequent investigation in which the college referred two employees to the state Attorney General’s Office for alleged misuse of the taxpayer-funded cards.
The unidentified employees are no longer with the college but have not been charged for the purchases.
And in a small sample of shopping trips, the audit found employees split transactions into multiple payments to avoid the single $5,000 spending limit — in one case totaling roughly $22,000.
It was more than just credit cards that concerned investigators, though.
According to the audit, the college failed to investigate employees who worked for both the college and other state agencies at the same time. As a result, one employee billed taxpayers over six months for 143 hours of work that overlapped between the college and another state department.
Also, in the college’s Human Resources Department, the employee who approved all salary increases had the capability to initiate them, leading to the potential that “unauthorized payments could be processed without detection.” Last year, salaries and fringe benefits at the college totaled $207 million.
UMBC, which has roughly 13,000 students, did not ensure that everybody was charged tuition — and in some cases gave refunds to those who skipped on making their payments to the college.
One student was given a $10,800 refund while not paying a single penny of $8,000 in tuition costs during the spring 2011 semester. A follow-up sample of students found three who were not charged tuition in the spring or fall 2011 semesters.
In response to the audit, the school said it had identified all students who did not pay tuition and would seek to recoup the funds. The college also said it would investigate all employees who appeared on multiple state payrolls to ensure state rules were not being broken.
As for the employee credit cards in question, UMBC officials mandated that all supervisors attend “refresher training” to reinforce the rules of the program.
