Findings Released in Grady County $2.1 Million Dollar Mistake

New details have been released involving a $2.1 million-dollar mistake that impacted Chickasha Public Schools.

That money was supposed to be going to CPS, but instead landed in Grady County's General Fund.

Related Story: State Auditor Says Coding Error Diverted $2.1M From Chickasha Public Schools

The Oklahoma State Auditor Cindy Byrd said that money has been paid back, and it appeared the treasurer’s office made a mistake when coding the apportionments in the computer.

“The way the system is set-up, the treasurer, or a deputy, is entering the levy for each one of these tax entities. For each purpose, there is a dropdown menu. So, it would be very easy to scroll down and think you clicked on one, and instead you clicked on a different taxing entity,” said Byrd.

The issue was isolated to Chickasha Public Schools.

Byrd confirmed no other district was coded improperly.

The mistake was caught by the Superintendent of Chickasha Schools office.

The county quickly issued a check to CPS.

Investigators said they reviewed the months of November 2018 to January 2019 and found, indeed $2.1 million was missing from the school's account.

“We went back and looked at the apportionment from November, December and January. we re-calculated that manually to see each entity received exactly what they were supposed to receive,” said Byrd. “That's why internal controls are so important, for someone to come back and review that work, and to make sure the money is getting where it's supposed to go.”

The auditor confirmed the software error has since been corrected.