Superintendent praises her accomplishments; board chairman cites concerns over 2016 audit

The Manatee County School District’s chief financial officer has announced her resignation, effective Jan. 5.

Rebecca Roberts, who joined the district in 2014, turned in her resignation two weeks ago, Superintendent Diana Greene said on Thursday. On Friday Roberts said she had taken a new job at another government agency, but she declined to say where she was heading.

Greene said the district would post the opening on Jan. 5. She praised Roberts for her body of work during her time as CFO.

“It is a tremendous loss. During the time Ms. Roberts was here, our rating went up several times,” Greene said. “In addition, she improved our ability to bond, which we just bonded $180 million, and we have been able to give raises every year Ms. Roberts has been here.”

In the district’s 2016 audit, the state auditor general reported nine operational findings and no financial findings. District leaders hailed that as a major improvement over the 2013 audit, which had 33 operational findings and two financial findings.

The news comes in the midst of the district’s push to get a property tax increase approved by voters in a special election scheduled for March 20.

Roberts said her new position had been in the works for months and had nothing to do with revelations at a board meeting in November that the district’s bank account had not been reconciled since last December.

“I want to be real clear. I am not leaving here because of this bank reconciliation issue,” Roberts said.

Roberts has said the accounts were not able to be reconciled because of a payroll glitch last December that is still being addressed. The district’s audit committee had been aware of the issue over the summer, but the committee said it was shocked to discover in November that the accounts were still not being reconciled.

Newly named School Board Chairman Scott Hopes said Roberts' departure would help the referendum pass.

“She was the CFO, right?” Hopes said. “Have we had any financial problems? Problems with reconciling bank accounts?”

Hopes said voters will see a change in leadership over the finances as evidence that the district is headed in a new direction. He pointed to the 2016 audit, which showed it took the district on average 187 days to reconcile its bank accounts after the month’s end.

Despite the bank reconciliation issue, the audit committee had been generally pleased with the district’s fiscal progress as of the 2016 audit, which was presented in January. Former audit committee chairman Joe Blitzko said at the time the formerly "F"-rated district was on its way to an "A."

During Roberts tenure the district’s reserve funds went from negative $7.5 million when she arrived to $25.5 million at the end of June. Each year she was here the district met the state mandated 3 percent reserve fund balance.

Roberts said one of the challenges of the job was shaking the district’s reputation for fiscal mismanagement following a financial meltdown during former superintendent Tim McGonegal’s tenure.

“We haven’t had a negative fund balance in four years, and none of us were here when that happened, but the shadow of that issue has lingered and continues to linger in the mind of some of our community members,” Roberts said. “That is a challenge for everyone here at the district to overcome. I’m not certain how long it will take for the community to realize the district is no longer in that place. We are actually in a very good place right now.”