Irate union officials in Montgomery County said they will fight the county’s suspension of its tuition assistance program, a day after the county shut down the troubled program because of “serious questions” about the types of classes county employees have been taking on the taxpayers’ dime.
County Executive Ike Leggett’s “administration has irresponsibly approved the expenditure of tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars for programs” that weren’t part of the collective bargaining agreement, the county’s police union said.
The Examiner first reported on questionable courses the county approved over the last three years, including Spanish lessons in Costa Rica for fire department employees, yoga sessions, bagpipe and drum camp in North Carolina, and a glass-fusing art class.
But a lack of oversight on the county’s part doesn’t excuse employees for misusing the program by taking classes that have no connection to their current or future jobs, said Council President Phil Andrews.
“What chutzpah; stop us before we apply again,” said Andrews, who has advocated for weeks that the program be suspended. “There’s room for improvement all around.”
But union officials said employees relied on the guidance of the county human resources department, which has the final say in approving tuition payments, on what courses they could take with public funding.
And the county’s human resources director, Joseph Adler, should be held accountable for allowing his staff to approve clearly inappropriate courses, union officials said.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this stuff out,” said John Sparks, president of the local International Association of Fire Fighters.
Officials from the police and fire unions said they plan to file a labor grievance to have the program reinstated. They said the program is essential to its members whose livelihoods depend on the additional training. The head of the county government employees’ union said he also is considering fighting the suspension.
Chief Administrative Officer Tim Firestine told county employees in an e-mail Wednesday that he is indefinitely suspending the program, which has been in existence since 1979, until “every part of the program works the way it should.”
Several elected officials credited The Examiner’s coverage as part of the reason why the county suspended the program.
The tuition program came under fire in July after Sheriff Raymond Kight told county officials that the program may have been misused by training companies to offer hundreds of public safety employees discounted guns.
The County Attorney’s Office, the Inspector General’s Office and the County Council opened separate probes into the entire program.
Firestine said the county is seeking reimbursement from employees “in those few cases where payments were made for educational expenses other than tuition.”
Leggett spokesman Patrick Lacefield said the county was suspending the program to fix its problems because “taxpayers deserve no less.”
“If the unions want to keep the status quo, that’s their prerogative,” Lacefield said in an e-mail.
