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player ready...A State Board of Accounts audit has cited the School Town of Munster for nearly $30,000 in ineligible health insurance payments for a former school board member.
The report released Friday states Carrie Wadas, a former long-time Munster school board member received $29,934 in health insurance benefits from the district that she was not eligible for following her resignation in January 2014.
Wadas received the benefits for 18 months between January 2014 and August 2015 while paying an annual premium, the report states. The citation was part of a special investigation report examining Munster records between 1999 and 2015.
Although a board member for two decades, Wadas did not meet age requirements and left the board before a September 2015 policy that allowed school board members serving two consecutive terms to retain benefits between ages 55 and 65, when eligible for Medicare.
Despite a two-decade tenure on the board, Wadas was not yet 55 when she resigned and did not meet the policy’s qualifications, according to the report.
“All types of employee benefits must be detailed in a written policy,” the report states. “Payments for expenses not authorized in a written policy cannot be allowed.”
It asks Wadas repay Munster $29,934 in health insurance benefits she received during that period.
Superintendent Jeff Hendrix was not immediately available for comment. Attempts to reach Wadas were not successful.
In her reply submitted in the report, Wadas said she was told by the district that she was qualified to draw the benefits after two decades on the board.
“I left with the understanding that I would be covered on the (district’s) insurance for ten years and I clearly stated this on my exit letter, which was unanimously approved by the board,” Wadas said. “I was told on numerous occasions that I was eligible for ten years of retirement benefit based on my length of service.”
Wadas said she was aware of other administrators and teachers who had also received similar benefits before age 55 and believed she was qualified for the same benefits as administrators.
“(Munster) acknowledged, approved, and paid for my benefit,” she said. “They abruptly discontinued my insurance and the fact that they are asking me to repay to them what they consciously paid on my behalf is unreasonable.”
In her resignation letter submitted to the board in December 2013, Wadas said she left the board “with a heavy heart” and stated she understood she was responsible for paying health insurance premium increases for the following decade.
“Working and serving with all of you as ambassadors for children and their educational system for over twenty years will always be one of the highlights of my life,” she wrote.
Wadas’ resignation came while Munster was searching to replace Superintendent William Pfister, who left the district in June 2014. Hendrix succeeded him the next month.
In an unrelated case, Attorney General Curtis Hill’s office filed a civil lawsuit in May seeking more than $3 million in damages from Pfister and former Assistant Superintendent Richard Sopko.
A SBOA report released in June 2016 cited both for allegedly receiving more than $850,000 in overpayments for a 15-year period.
The special investigation report released by the State Board of Accounts details overpayments of $359,728 and $311,198 to the annuities of retired Superintendent William Pfister and former Assistant Superintendent Richard Sopko, respectively. The report covered the period between July 1, 1999, and June 30, 2014, and focused on salary contracts, payroll records and annuity payments.
Pfister and Sopko are scheduled to appear in Lake County Circuit Court’s Civil Division with Judge Marissa McDermott presiding in January.
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