Fired MPS comptroller says district's financial staff was understaffed and inexperienced

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Just 10 months after he was hired, Milwaukee Public Schools' comptroller is out. Alfredo Balmaseda says he was fired Tuesday night, the same day former MPS superintendent Keith Posely resigned following the district's financial fiasco. 

If words have meaning, then bullet point three in Milwaukee Public Schools' comptroller job description would suggest the position "ensures that financial records are maintained in an accurate and timely manner," but Balmaseda says that was a role that was nearly impossible to accomplish. 

“Fairness – I don’t think it’s fair," said Balmaseda. "It's been obvious since December that we were having trouble getting through the audit."

Balmaseda was told he was fired over his "tone" with auditors on a call in October. He says that's not true, and he plans to file a complaint with the district's human resources department. 

“It takes you a while to get to the point where you can actually manage and understand a school district. It’s not that you can just hire people and fire them," said Balmaseda. 

Balmaseda says the root of the issue was the way the district handled its accounting process before he arrived. Balmaseda says he alerted the district the program was not compliant with generally accepted accounting principles -- also known as GAAP. 

"If you miss one bit of detail, one spreadsheet that has the detail, that is it. You cannot find that detail again," said Balmaseda. "I have never seen a system like this.”

MPS was more than eight months late on reporting its financial data to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). Balmaseda says the data was submitted, but there was no one to check the accuracy of it. 

“We had the data. It was up there every single moment we made a change in the accounting. We were already uploading it into the box, in DPI’s format," said Balmaseda. “We still had the past that was being carried over.”

He says he was working between 60 to 70 hours a week to fix the district's accounting process. Balmaseda says at least 10 auditors should have been checking the district's financial data. Instead, he says there were only three auditors. All three auditors were gone for a two-month period.

“We were working so hard and when you don’t have all the staff -- there was no reporting manager this whole time. There hasn’t been a reporting manager for a year before that," said Balmaseda.

The previous data that was submitted was also inaccurate, leaving MPS at risk of losing state funding next year. According to a press release, DPI says, "we are temporarily withholding the district’s June special education aid payment." That will cost the district $16.6 million in special education funding. 

DPI says MPS is required to submit a corrective action plan (CAP) so that it "can make the scheduled general aid payment later this month." 

While the district's job description says, "financial records are maintained in an accurate and timely manner," Balmaseda says it's a role that can't be managed alone. 

“A little bit relieved that I just don’t have to have that weight on me again," said Balmaseda.