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PEEKSKILL, N.Y. -- The Peekskill City School District will be getting a check from a former food provider after the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman found the district had been overcharged for services.
A report released by Schneiderman's office earlier this week found dozens of state school districts had been overcharged by Chartwell's, a subsidiary of the United Kingdom-based food services company Compass Group, from 2003-10.
Compass received discounts from food vendors it worked with but did not pass on those savings to schools as required by law, according to the attorney general's office.
“Compass improperly profited by overcharging New York’s taxpayers and shortchanging our schools," Schneiderman said. "There are no excuses for this kind of misconduct. On behalf of students, parents and taxpayers, we are pleased that New York’s schools will get their money back, and that this corporation will be held accountable for siphoning funds meant to benefit students.”
The Peekskill school used Chartwell's for several years before switching over to the Long Island-based Whitson's in 2004. Superintendent James Willis said the district would be receiving "about $16,000" in the state settlement
"Our portion is not that big," Willis said Friday morning. "We haven't seen anything (from the attorney general) yet."
Whitson's, the district's current provider, already has provided the district with a refund of a little about $700, Willis said.
Comments (1)
Why are local school districts such as Peekskill doing business with a huge, out of state, multi-national corporation in the first place? We have wonderful food resources right here in NY especially in our local area. With all the Big Government talk about childhood obesity and what kids are eating, wouldn't it make sense to buy food from NY producers? These administrators are all paid 6 figure salaries and they can't figure out where to buy food for the children and families they were hired to serve. This is a disgrace. Once again the taxpayers get screwed.