Assemblymen Scott T. Rumana and David C. Russo, both R-Passaic, Bergen and Essex, today demanded an investigation by the state Department of Education and law enforcement officials after a report that Paterson school officials paid $4.8 million in overtime from 2007 to 2008 to a private security firm whose original contract didn’t provide for overtime, according to a report in the Herald News.

            “Are Paterson schools so flush with cash that they can pay a private firm more than twice the amount it budgeted and contracted for security services? If so, then why are state taxpayers subsidizing nearly 75 percent of Paterson’s $520 million budget?” Russo said. “Education and law enforcement officials should scour this situation to see if there is any way this money can be recouped for the taxpayers.”

            The audit also found a more than $92,000 deficit for food services and that the district was still providing health benefits to former employees whom were no longer eligible.

            The Paterson school district is no stranger to overtime or auditors. It was one of the first so-called Abbott districts to be audited by the state in 2006 that found little oversight and fiscal control in the state’s poorest districts and one custodian in the district who more than doubled his $45,000 base pay with overtime.

            Responding to the recent audit, school officials disputed that they couldn’t pay overtime, which they said was necessary for after-hour events.

“How many audits does it take before school officials entrusted with public dollars to educate our children learn to correct their reckless and wasteful ways?” said Rumana, a member of the Assembly Education Committee. “Instead of wasting their energy disputing whether they were allowed to pay excessive amounts of overtime, they should do their due diligence to properly plan and budget so our money goes toward educating children, not into the coffers of a private contractor.  If the money is recovered then it should go towards property tax relief for the taxpayers in other districts that comply with all of the state mandates.”