OCSD Keeping Eye on Medicaid Money
February 15, 2010
The Orangeburg Consolidated School District Five board voted last Tuesday night to transfer more than $1 million from the district’s general fund to cover deficits in the Medicaid and Medicaid Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Services accounts.
The Medicaid account climbed to a deficit of $690,225 over a period of six years and the MAAPS account reached a deficit of $341,081 over a period of four years.
Checks were put into place by the board to prevent overspending, and both programs operated with positive balances last year, according to district Financial Officer Donnie Boland.
The board decided that any excess funds brought in by the programs will be transferred into the general fund to rebuild the fund balance. It also instructed that an accounting of the programs be submitted to the board on a monthly basis so that the funds can be monitored.
A lack of monitoring created the problem in the first place, according to board Chairman Melvin Crum. The essence of the motion is to allow the board to monitor the income and ensure that it is used to replace the funds that are being transferred out of the general fund to cover the deficits.
The money was spent as part of a Medicaid reimbursement program where the district provided services and expected to be reimbursed by the government, but the funds did not come in at the rate expected, Boland has said. District officials have said they anticipate being paid for the services, which the district is obligated to provide.
Crum expressed concern that the accounts could begin losing money again.
As recently as the 2008-09 school year, the deficit in the Medicaid account was still mounting.
Expenses were $693,000, and income was $539,000, which left a deficit of $153,000. But by December 2009, the Medicaid account had a positive balance of $86,072 and the MAAPS account had a positive balance of $76,889, Boland said.
The positive financial report about Medicaid was based in part on the fact that all Medicaid expenses were paid by the general fund and no expenses were charged to it for the 2009-10 school year. This meant that all the revenue generated by the Medicaid account can be used to offset the existing deficit, Boland said.
However, Crum said that he dislikes going into a new year with a deficit. The board agreed with him and voted to use money from the general fund to cover the deficit.
In other business, the board voted to accept recommendations presented by District Textbook Coordinator Dr. Cynthia Sanders for the algebra, geometry and math textbooks selected for use in the district for the 2010-11 school year.
The board also approved the second reading of the DKB, which establishes the basic structure for making deductions from employees’ salaries for retirement.