Audit seeks $105K from former Central State CFO weeks after lawmakers approved up to $29 million for university

Just weeks after Ohio lawmakers approved up to $29 million for renovations at financially struggling Central State University, the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office issued a six-figure finding for recovery against the university’s former chief financial officer over late retirement system payments that resulted in penalties and interest.

The finding, announced Thursday by the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office, names former Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance and Administration Curtis Pettis and his insurance company as jointly and severally liable for the amount. The finding stems from an audit covering July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.

Auditors found the university incurred $105,057.10 in penalties and interest between 2021 and 2024 because employer retirement contributions and employee payroll withholdings were not submitted on time to two state retirement systems.

“These charges would have been avoided had the employer contributions and payroll withholding submissions been remitted … by the required due dates,” auditors wrote in the report.

The audit also identified two dozen material weaknesses and other deficiencies involving the university’s financial controls.

Auditors further reported that the Central State University Foundation failed to provide requested records during the audit, even after the Auditor of State’s Office issued a subpoena.

The audit comes as Central State remains under fiscal watch after the Ohio Department of Higher Education placed the university under that designation in October 2024 because of ongoing financial challenges.

A subsequent financial accounting review by the Auditor of State’s Office identified what auditors described as “significant issues” in the university’s financial accounting and reporting systems, along with “serious concerns” about financial governance and accountability.

Despite those concerns, Ohio lawmakers last month agreed to provide Central State with up to $29 million in capital funding for campus renovations through the state’s capital budget.

Most of that funding is contingent upon the university allowing the Ohio Department of Administrative Services or another state agency to oversee the management of its facilities before the money is released.

At the time, lawmakers said the oversight requirement was intended to help ensure the university’s finances remained on a stable path while preserving Ohio’s only public historically Black university.

State Sen. Kyle Koehler, R-Springfield, previously said legislators wanted assurances Central State was moving in the right direction before additional taxpayer dollars were invested.

“Central State is trying very hard to make the right decisions to keep Ohio’s only public historically Black college open and operating,” Koehler said, per Signal Akron.

The audit does not allege current university leadership was responsible for the late retirement payments. Instead, auditors attributed the finding for recovery to Pettis and documented financial deficiencies during the audit period.

When asked on Tuesday about the finding and the $29 million, state Sen. Jerry C. Cirino, R-Kirtland, told Ohio.News that the state dollars have a restriction attached,  that it has to be managed by a third party.

“Central State has a unique mission,” Cirino said. “…The state has bailed them out before. This is not the first time. I think they still have some issues. They have student decline as well, as most others are experiencing, and I think we want to try to keep their mission alive, but there’s a limit to how many times the state’s going to bail them out.

“It’ll be for future legislators to determine how far they’re going to go and how many more times they’re going to get bailed out; it’s up to the governor’s office too,” Cirino added. “I do think that we want to try to keep their mission alive, but there may have to be more changes. I think the board needs to be completely replaced. They have not met their responsibilities in letting it get this way.”