MILWAUKEE — He was fired in the fall-out of the financial crisis at Milwaukee Public Schools and now he is speaking out to TMJ4 news.
The now-former Comptroller, Alfredo Balmasedo, blames understaffed departments and the district's accounting system for confusion and long overdue reports to the state.
The Comptroller is the person responsible for overseeing the district's accounting and financial reports.
Balmasedo tells TMJ4's Mariam Mackar he was working to fix what he called a messy and inefficient accounting system before he was fired.
"I'm so relieved in many ways because a huge weight has been lifted," he said.
He was in the role just shy of a year before he was removed from the post.
The former Comptroller tells Mackar he noticed right away that the accounting system the district has been using for years was hard to follow and didn't list key information about the funds listed.
"The organizational aspect that was put in place when the system was implemented was basically not good for accounting," Balmaseda explained.
Documents obtained by TMJ4 show that in 2022 auditors were having the same issues,
saying the district was "deficient in preparing financial statements, budgeting state and federal money, and adjusting entries in the budget."
Even before that, in 2021, still under Posley's leadership, a district leader wrote in a resignation letter to the board: "...There is no attention being given to the critical economic issues that the district is facing or will face in the near future."
"[This former employee] outlines a lot of things we're hearing today, back in 2021. If you had heard that, would you have taken this position?" Mackar asked Balmaseda.
"No," he replied. "If I had known everything— not what was going to happen, but how things were organized— I probably would have stayed as a consultant."
Mackar went on to ask, "If things are so disorganized that even professionals like yourself are having issues finding the correct numbers, isn't it up to Martha Kreitzman, the CFO, or Superintendent Posley at the time, to say something?"
Balmaseda replied, "I think that should've been handled more clearly, more transparently. Absolutely."
In response to TMJ4's questions regarding the removal of Balmaseda, MPS spokespeople replied that they do not comment on personnel matters.
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