Brookdale Community College Was Audited By The State In 2022: Results

LINCROFT, NJ — In 2022, the state of New Jersey launched an audit into the finances of Brookdale College, which is Monmouth County's community college.

The office of the state Comptroller did this after it identified numerous "financial deficiencies" at Brookdale, including that Brookdale had weak financial controls and oversight, which led to $790,000 in unauthorized or improper spending, including missing documentation and receipts. Additionally, the state comptroller found that Brookdale awarded a lucrative contract without following transparency requirements required by law.

Since then, Brookdale had to create a "corrective action plan" to show it complied with the state.

On Tuesday, the state of New Jersey thanked Brookdale for making what the state called “substantial progress." The state recommended 11 best practices to put into place, and Brookdale has implemented nearly all of them, the state comptroller said Tuesday.

Brookdale said in a statement: "We are incredibly proud of the significant progress we have made in strengthening Brookdale’s financial accountability. The audit review covered the period from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2018. Over the past three years, our team has worked diligently to implement best practices, ensuring that our policies and procedures reflect the highest standards of fiscal responsibility. This recognition from the Office of the State Comptroller reaffirms our commitment to transparency and integrity, and we will continue building on these achievements to best serve our students and community."

Here are some of the issues the audit discovered at Brookdale from 2015-2018:

Brookdale paid out overtime incorrectly

"Brookdale’s policy for overtime administration was vague and did not define relevant requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act," said the state. Nor did it comply with New Jersey Wage and Hour Law.

"We found that Brookdale relied on supervisors who were not properly trained to implement FLSA requirements when approving employees’ overtime payments."

Since then, Brookdale said it would revise its current procedures to ensure appropriate recordkeeping of overtime and the approval process.

Brookdale administrators approved $790,000 in expenses without correct receipts

The state identified $790,000 in transactions that were improperly authorized by Brookdale staff, including pre-approved travel expenses. Thousands of dollars in out-of-state travel and catering events were billed and paid for without any details or documentation, said the state.

Brookdale paid out health benefit opt-out payments incorrectly

"Our 2022 audit found that Brookdale’s controls for monitoring health benefit opt-out waiver payments were inadequate and resulted in payments that were inconsistent with statutory requirements," said the state in its audit. "The college advised in its corrective action plan that it would update the policies and procedures for the administration of waiver payments and ensure that payments were accurate and in accordance with state law."

Brookdale was paying the cell phone plans for too many employees

The audit found that 21 employees at Brookdale received a cell phone allowance, which the school has since reduced to four after the audit.

"Cell phones are now provided only to staff identified as critical to monitoring and responding to alerts related to the college’s buildings, equipment and alarm systems," said the state.

Brookdale improperly advertised for a public contract

"We found Brookdale posted a notice of the request for proposals (RFP) on its website but did not advertise a notice in a newspaper. The RFP specified that there would not be a public opening of proposals and that the award would be based on 'the most advantageous combination of qualifications and price.'" That is in violation of the law, said the state.

You can read the full report from the state comptroller into their audit of Brookdale: https://www.nj.gov/comptroller...

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