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Education

FAMU refuses accountants

Trustees say no to the Legislature's offer of five people to help untangle the school's finances.

By DAVID KARP
Published April 6, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - Florida A&M University turned down an offer Tuesday of more than $425,000 from the state to pay for accountants to help with the school's troubled finances.

The money came with a catch.

The Republican-controlled Legislature would assign five accountants of its choice to the historically black school, interim FAMU president Castell Bryant said.

Bryant, who has hired the accounting firm KPMG to untangle FAMU's many accounting problems, said the school doesn't need the Legislature's assistance.

"If I feel we need the help, I will ask for it," Bryant said at a FAMU board of trustees meeting.

Her board, all appointees of Gov. Jeb Bush, agreed. Trustees said adding outside accountants now would not help KPMG finish its work, which includes training employees to run a new accounting system.

"People are being trained, a culture is being changed," trustee Challis Lowe said.

Only trustee Barney Bishop objected.

"I think it's a mistake," Bishop said, particularly when FAMU is asking the Legislature for millions of dollars to pay for academic programs and new buildings.

"We are looking a gift horse in the mouth," Bishop said. "We are slapping them."

The Legislature is entitled to expect some accountability when it gives the university millions in tax dollars, he said.

"So far, the dollars have not been spent right. We all know that," he said.

No one seconded his motion to accept the legislative accountants.

As Bishop argued, a person sitting in the audience muttered loudly, "Takeover. It'll be a takeover."

The remark referred to a long-standing concern at FAMU that the state wants to take over the school. Alumni are still upset that lawmakers, citing mismanagement, closed FAMU's law school in 1965 and then opened up a law school at nearby Florida State University a few years later.

The Legislature could still require FAMU to take the accountants over the trustees' objections. But FAMU trustee Al Cardenas, the former head of the Florida Republican Party, said he doesn't think that will happen. He said he believed legislators would give Bryant more time to fix the school's problems.

Bryant expects to pay KPMG about $300,000 to complete its review and then propose a system to keep its finances in order.

The firm already has found that FAMU did not balance its books and did not track how it spent money. Auditors said the university spent at least $51.1-million more this year than was budgeted. It paid staff $19.5-million less in salaries than state records said it should.

Bryant said she felt the pinch personally. When she took over in January, the president's annual office budget of $200,000 was spent.

Tuesday, she asked for $100,000 more to finish the fiscal year, which ends June 30. The board approved the request without objection.

[Last modified April 6, 2005, 01:06:15]