By Art Gallagher
The audit into Ex- Brookdale President Peter Burnham’s spending irregularities has revealed questionable reimbursements in the amount of $48,109.75. Brookdale plans to file suit against Burnham. Burnham’s retirement funds have been frozen by the Treasury Department. The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating. All of this according to the Asbury Park Press.
Brookdale has already spent $12,500 on the audit. Legal fees to date likely add up to several thousand dollars more, not to mention the cost of the prosecutors.
Unless there is reasonable suspicion of a great deal more of inappropriate expenditures, and there might be….an earlier APP article that is no longer on their site said construction of athletic facilities was being investigated…, the Brookdale Board of Trustees should consider settling this matter and putting the controversy in the past.
Spending more money on audits and litigation than on what was misappropriated would be stupid and wasteful. That money would be better spent on new management controls to ensure that similar misappropriations don’t occur in the future.
Posted: April 16th, 2011 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Brookdale Community College | Tags: Brookdale, Burnham | 11 Comments »
By Art Gallagher
Brookdale College President Peter Burnham has been suspended without pay due to a review of expenses that “revealed significant expenses and reimbursements associated with the President’s Office budget that may not be directly connected to Brookdale or are contrary to Brookdale’s adopted policies governing travel, mileage, and other reimbursable expenses,” according to a news release posted on the college’s website.
Dr. William Toms, PhD, a retired State Police investigator, has been appointed Acting President of the community college.
Additionally, the Board of Trustees hire an independent auditor to investigate all expenditures made from the President’s Office budget, including all expenses and reimbursements. The audit is due by the end of March and will cost no more than $12,500.
“We are conducting a comprehensive audit of the President’s Office and will release to the public the findings as soon as we can. This is a public institution and everyone from our Freeholders to our faculty to our taxpayers deserve answers,” said Howard Birdsall, Chairman of Brookdale’s Board of Trustees.
“Our highest obligation is to the truth and Dr. Toms is going to lead a very open and transparent process that gets us the answers we need. If something happened that shouldn’t have happened, we want to know what it was, how it happened, and how to prevent it from happening again. Dr. Toms has built an outstanding record of achievement during his career and has the perfect skill set to lead Brookdale through the challenges we face,” said Birdsall.
Freeholder John Curley first raised the issue of Burnham’s compensation and spending in a statement to MoreMonmouthMusings on February 16th.
”While I am appalled at the contract Dr. Burnham was given, I can’t help but wonder what other extravagances are in that budget,” said Curley, liaison to Brookdale. “It’s time we go through Brookdale’s budget line by line to see not just what the president is spending, but the other departments as well. A good hard look at waste in all public colleges and universities is long overdue.”
Way to go John!
Posted: March 3rd, 2011 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Brookdale Community College, John Curley, Peter Burnham | Tags: Brookdale, John Curley, Peter Burnham | 6 Comments »
