State audit shows Suffolk owes Riverhead district nearly $260,000 for student services from 2000

Suffolk County has paid down on the more than half a million dollars it owed a Riverhead school district as of May for services provided to special needs students but was still in arrears by nearly $260,000 as of Oct. 31, according to district officials in response to a state comptroller's audit.

The audit of Little Flower Union Free School District, released Nov. 20, focused on tuition paid to the district between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015.

During the review, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office found that Suffolk owed the district $572,141 in past due payments dating back to 2000.

School Superintendent Cynthia Stachowski has since said the county paid off $256,717 but still owed $259,055 as of Halloween.

The state audit recommended the district, which currently serves 108 students, have written agreements -- including specific payment terms -- with all the districts and counties it bills.

Little Flower is among 10 districts statewide established in 1972 by the New York State Legislature to focus on special needs students. It's the only such district on Long Island and houses the majority of students in a residential treatment center. Roughly 20 of the children are day students. Their home school, county, or both pay their tuition.

Expenditures for 2014-2015 in Little Flower were $6.8 million, funded almost entirely by tuition.

Suffolk Comptroller John M. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday he didn't yet know why the county had not paid Flower Hill in full for services or who was responsible for making payments.

But, he said, he hoped to resolve the matter quickly.

"I have known Little Flower for years and years and years," Kennedy said. "They do wonderful work out there. This is not something that is going to go unaddressed."

Stachowski told the comptroller's office in her letter dated Nov. 13 that going forward, Little Flower "will ensure that all contracts include payment terms and will obtain, to the extent possible, fully executed contracts" with all those who send students to the campus.

Tuesday, Stachowski said she was glad for the comptroller's help.

"It was a pleasurable experience, for an audit," she said.

Little Flower has contracts with 39 of 43 home school districts or counties, though the report does not name them. The lack of a contract with the four entities can lead to billing disputes, DiNapoli said.

Brian Butry, a spokesman for DiNapoli, said this was a routine review, part of the comptroller's pledge to look in on all of the state's public schools following a Roslyn scandal in which the former superintendent was sentenced in 2006 for embezzling millions of dollars.