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Board questions $88,000 in late taxi invoices for student transportation; staff promise process changes
Summary
Board members pressed staff about a stack of late invoices from Aztec Taxi and Shuttle used for student transportation under homeless/at‑risk programs; accounting and oversight measures were discussed and staff said they will add monthly checks to prevent recurrence.
Board members raised concerns on Sept. 12 after the district’s check register showed dozens of transportation invoices from Aztec Taxi and Shuttle presented together with a single payment date.
Board members said the vendor’s invoices appeared to have been submitted late and clustered on Sept. 12, producing a payment record that appeared to the board to show roughly $88,000 related to taxi-shuttle services. Trustee Relleford characterized the aggregated amount as a “red flag,” asked for the vendor’s books for the prior year and urged a review of vendor oversight.
Accounts-payable staff (identified in the meeting as Miss Cleves) said the district had not received the invoices on time and that a supervisor contacted the vendor; the invoices arrived in a batch and were paid once verified. Cleves told the committee the payments were grant-funded in several cases (the McKinney‑Vento and 31a at‑risk programs and a network grant for a field trip) and that the district runs vendors through the state vendor checks.
“I'm just a little alarmed that here we've got some, you know, smoothly oiled machine that's been running for a while that nobody's kinda looking at that kind of is just sending in invoices maybe when they're nudged,” a board member said. Another trustee asked for vendor payment history and invoices with service dates so the board can confirm work was rendered before payment.
Staff said they will add recurring vendor bills to a monthly checklist and improve invoice routing so invoices reach the correct accounts-payable staff on time. Board members requested a vendor report for Aztec and supporting documentation for the recent payments.
No vendor contract renegotiation or procurement action was adopted at the committee meeting; the matter was discussed as part of the finance committee’s review of the check register and disbursement reports.
