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
