We have a completely new board, including myself, the self-professed insane volunteer president who perhaps foolishly took on way more than I bargained for.

Our previous treasurer pretty much did not do one single thing right. She collected PTA dues from our parents but didn't remit them to State and National levels. She also failed to pay for our insurance, leaving us liable for all sorts of bad things. We were kicked out of the PTA because we were not in good standing for two years and lost our charter. We, as a new board, decided to make the most of the opportunity and switch to a PTO. We went down to the state and federal offices to make the appropriate changes and found that none of the proper paperwork had been completed for our non-profit business. We completed it all, got the name changed, and learned that our G.E. taxes had not been paid for the entire year. We received two returned check notices at this same time from a deposit made in June that included these two checks written in December. This was when we learned the previous treasurer had routinely held cash and check deposits for seven months or more. As we started to comb the books to make sure no other surprises would creep up on us, we found several hundred dollars that should have been deposited that never were and had disappeared.

Now we have been kicked out of the PTA. Statute of limitations provide that someone can still bring suit against our organization for two years from the date of injury and we weren't covered then. We are behind on taxes and facing numerous penalties and interest. We have uncollectable checks because the writers have moved and we can't force them to pay when the treasurer waited so long to deposit them. We are missing cash money.

We have tried to speak with this treasurer along with the previous president. The president showed up and stayed for the meeting but the treasurer bolted. She says she wishes she had moved so that she wouldn't have to deal with this problem and that she is now done with it. She has taken absolutely NO responsibility yet we continue to face obstacles to get her problems straightened out. We are now covered by insurance. We have completely revamped our bylaws and our system for dealing with money to hopefully prevent this from happening again.

My question is, can we legally make her responsible for this missing money and tax penalties and interest? I should also say that she has blatantly lied to many people about the tax issue then to later say, "Oh I know I should have filed them. I just didn't have time." Of course, this is within minutes of saying that she did file them but the State must have lost each and every month's report and remittance.

Please help! I am so aggravated and tired of cleaning up messes that I would love to throw a pen right at her head. Or maybe something with more heft

I suspect that if you have proof that money was collected and not deposited that you can file a police report with the local police and get a case of theft opened. During that time however, if you were still a PTA in good standing you may have been covered by that insurance (I'm sure there's some sort of statute on all of that).

My greater feeling however, is that you can handle and are handling all of the things that have come your way and are finally getting this stuff all in line like it should have been when you took it over. GOOD FOR YOU...and if your loses were not of the sort that are devastating (you must decide how much that is for your group) then you may just need to move on. Trust me-that goes against much of my personal desires for you to drag this woman through the mud...but that takes manpower and lawyers and legal fees and fill-in-the-blanks....and that will become the focus of your actions for months.

You could try the scare tactic. Figure out how much you owe, get a letter drafted by an attorney (perhaps one in the school) and tell the woman if restitution is not made within 90 days you will file a police report. If you are willing to go the long ride on this.

I had occassion where some folks told me things were happening that were not...reference taxes and filings (never money) and frankly it just got too hard. The IRS was easier to deal with (crazy huh).

So if your loses are not high-give thanks that you weren't really hobbled by this woman-have a "taking out the trash" party with your new board and throw this stuff away over a hot chocolate so that you can move on with your new group and give the children your undivided attention. Revenge is sweet--but not as sweet as the feeling you get once you give the kids what they deserve--a group that is focused entirely on them for the coming year.

Just my toughts
d

I'm with d, unless you can irrefutably prove that she took the money and you're willing to deal with the process of going after her legally, you are probably better off to just straighten out what you can, make sure that your financial procedures are updated to prevent this from happening again, and move on to better things. If her recordkeeping and organization is as poor as you say it is, then that money might be laying in a drawer in her house somewhere buried under stacks of papers.

My question is, can we legally make her responsible for this missing money and tax penalties and interest?

I'd be tempted to have a lawyer draft up a letter about the missing money, as d suggested.

As for tax penalties, I've heard that they can be waived (at least, those for the IRS, don't know about your state). My PTO is presently testing this "rumor" -- apparently no treasurer in our 20-year history ever filed, until I did back in March.

My advice - how much time do you have to spend and it is worth the return? Staying with the bad stuff can kill you. Might be better to move on - call it a learning experience - and spend your time and efforts on good things that will benefit the students and the school instead of working so hard for money you may never see. If it isn't enough money to be catastrophic - move on.

My sister took over and had to do fundraising to pay for tens of thousands of $ in back taxes. Suing would have done them no good. Instead they focused on getting things back in order - which is sounds like you have done a great job with - and moved forward because it was unlikely they were going to get money back.

You might consider implementing a yearly or twice yearly financial review to make sure this doesn't happen in the future. We do it once a year and give a full report to the membership to confirm that things are in order. Helps to see where and if things are going wrong and correct them while people are still in office. We do a year end review but the one in the bylaws is the one done in January.

Good luck - sounds like they are lucky to have this new board in place and you are on the right track!

Our PTA just went through this and guess what? We are expecting a check anyday now from our insurance co. We filed a police report as soon as the tresurer got out of sorts with us. The police handed it over to the DA and they prosecuted. She actually didn't keep receipts for cash but reported profits at our meetings. Well the profits in cash never made it to the bank. She was arrested a two weeks ago. I say prosecute or else it is the presidents behind. Don't forget that ultimately the president is responsible. This could come back to bite her in the behind if it is not handled properly. FIDUCIARY RESPONSIBILITY.
Hope this helps