Sanford - In a constant effort to detect leakage within the Seminole County government, Clerk of the Circuit Court Maryanne Morse, and her staff, is continuously auditing different departments and their specific duties.

The Seminole County Internal Audit Division released a report determining "if the administrative controls over the Tuition Refund Program are adequate and operating as intended."

Unfortunately, the audit found four significant findings, which ultimately cost the county approximately $6,000 and allowed several former employees to enroll in college courses for free.

By the report's definition, "the Tuition Refund Program provides tuition refunds to permanent full-time employees who have completed six months of employment and are pursuing educational courses that are directly related to a job or career path within the Seminole County government."

However, employees are required to remain in Seminole County government service for one year following the course completion, or the employee must reimburse the county. Much of the lost money was attributed to the first finding as several employees were reimbursed for classes, but then left the county government service shortly after completion of courses.

"We have done all the recommendations (in the report) except for the one that is more problematic - recouping lost funds," said Janet Davis, head of the human resources department. "I was surprised, particularly in the first finding. It was more than I thought it would be which highlighted we need more controls in place."

An example of an employee taking advantage of the Tuition Refund Program, according to the report, is an employee was reimbursed $1,177 for five classes (two from August 23, 1999 to December 10, 1999; three from January 5, 2000 to May 2000). The employee terminated on May 28, 2000, less than a month later. The employee did not refund the cost of the five courses, and no monies were deducted from the final paycheck.

According to Davis, the human resources department can not withhold earnings from a paycheck because of federal labor laws, however Davis said she has added several checks and balances to prevent the problem from occurring again.

Of those controls, Davis said a list of all employees, approximately 70, on the Tuition Refund Program is now kept in the department. Davis also said questions pertaining to the Tuition Refund Program are now on the exit interview. Department heads were also asked to give a more sufficient warning when employees were leaving.

"If I had to guess they (the employees) didn't think about it (leaving without repaying college courses)," Davis said. "I would like to believe it was not a willful or intentional act."

Commissioner Daryl McLain said many of the employees probably thought it was "water under the bridge," and "if the snake doesn't bite, I'm going to walk on by."

"It's the county's responsibility to keep up with that, but I do question why an employee would do that," McLain said.

According to McLain, the county should of collected the money before the employees terminated, but collecting the money now may cost the city more money than the actual money lost.

The second finding from the report summarized that reimbursements for textbooks and tuition costs are made without paid receipts. However, Davis said many colleges and universities have the option to purchase books online. In an agreement with the Internal Audit Division, electronic transfers are now accepted.

The third finding outlined that tuition reimbursement amounts are not correctly calculated in accordance with the grades received in the class. Employees are reimbursed 100 percent for an "A," 75 percent for a "B," 50 percent for a "C," and nothing below a "C."

The report noted that 19 of 108 reimbursements were not calculated correctly. According to Davis, the miscalculations was a result of mathematical errors and to correct the problem Davis said three individuals check the math before the reimbursements approved.

The fourth finding charted how the University of Central Florida students are assessed a health fee ($47.30), but private colleges like University of Phoenix, Troy State, and Rollins College do not. However, the county has been reimbursing all employees for the health fee no matter what school they attend. The county lost approximately $1,100 for reimbursing student health fees when in all actuality the school does not have health fees.

According to Davis that problem has also been fixed as employees are no longer reimbursed for health fees.

"Maryanne (Morse) and the clerk of the court office take their jobs seriously and do a good job," Davis said. "We appreciate somebody taking a look and telling us how we can improve these things."