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RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) All departments across Richmond City government are checked and balanced by the city auditor's office--with the exception of one.
Richmond Public Schools has its own internal audit department, with a budget of about $460,000 dollars a year—close to half a million.
Over 95% of that money is spent on employee salaries and benefits.
The task of the four auditors employed in the department is to find fraud waste and abuse. They’ve even got a hotline for whistleblowers to report abuses.
One councilman says those investigations aren’t worth the expense, and that unlike employees in the city auditor’s office, the school auditors don't have the necessary credentials for the job.
This discovery comes at a time when one school board member says deep digging is needed now more than ever, with schools in a $24 million dollar deficit.
The city auditor says he could absorb the school audit division into his department, and save hundreds of thousands of dollars for the city.
Tonight at 11 p.m., Catie Beck will have the full investigation of a city position that one councilman calls a ”Total waste of money.”
