The school district serving Thermopolis and the rest of Hot Springs County has been charged nearly $46,000 in fines to account for failures to file payroll taxes and employing coaches who weren’t fully certified.
Hot Springs County School District No. 1 paid a $37,188.95 fine to the Internal Revenue Service last month after the district’s business office failed to file payroll taxes. It also was charged nearly $8,700 by the state for a separate violation.
The failure was the product of a mistake in the school district’s business office, Superintendent Dustin Hunt told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
Clay Van Antwerp, a member of the Hot Springs Count school board, told district business manager Jessica Benefiel during an April 16 public meeting that he appreciated her transparency in alerting the board to the issue, but he hoped something was in place to ensure it won’t happen again.
“I should have caught it as I went through those approvals,” said Benefiel, adding that the printout sheet documenting the taxes has italics which should say “confirmed” instead of “pending,” and that she’s been checking those.
The error stems from September payroll taxes not making through all the steps, she had told the board.
“She just didn’t get — our office didn’t get quite through that entire process and we caught it in December and remedied that,” she said. The IRS wrote in January saying the district had incurred late payment fees, Benefiel said.
Her office spent days trying to speak to someone at the IRS who could negotiate with them on the fees, she said.
Two Coaches Not Certified
Another penalty was levied on the district for two coaches who did not get certified to coach by their deadlines, so the Wyoming Department of Education fined the district $8,690.95, Hunt told Cowboy State Daily.
Benefiel said her office will be double checking certifications to make sure they’ve made it through every step of the process going forward. The office’s “payroll gal” has not had had access to those certifications, she said, adding that could change.
“We’ve kind of checked around and some districts have their payroll gal double-check that,” she said.
'Unacceptable'
Bob Aguiar, a local resident who frequents school board meetings as a watchdog, said these publicly funded errors are “unacceptable” and that the business office should have caught the tax failure long before it did.
He said these issues could be among other factors preventing the district from giving teachers raises.
“We’re losing teachers much faster than we’re gaining them,” he said.
Aguiar said he believes the district is losing five teachers at the end of this school year and only gaining one.
Transparent
Hunt countered, saying he doesn’t have firm numbers on how many teachers are being hired this spring, but he thinks the figure is higher than one.
As for the roughly five teachers leaving, two are retiring after about 30 years with the district, one’s moving to attend graduate school, two are moving closer to aging families, Hunt said.
He said the district is downsizing by not re-filling all vacated positions in some of the lower-enrollment areas in the district.
As to the fines, Hunt said that in a district with nearly 200 staffers, mistakes can happen.
He said the business staff generally is outstanding, the district is grateful for people who put their names out to become coaches, and the district takes certification and fiscal responsibility seriously.
“I think it was great the board was transparent and the business office was transparent about these two mistakes,” said Hunt, referencing the open meeting. “It’s important to share that when we do make a mistake, we do our best to be transparent about it.”
Hunt said he wishes the community was as eager to alert the public to the great happenings at the district, such as the U.S. News and World Report ranking Thermopolis Middle School as the top in Wyoming the past autumn, and both the high school and middle school being recognized as model professional learning communities.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
