Cash-strapped Adams County School District–in a school year that featured salary freezes and a three percent budget reduction among other cost-cutting measures–could ill-afford to waste precious resources and yet, it appears that was the case, as CBS 4 in Denver revealed:

Adams County School District 50 squandered precious taxpayer dollars month after month by not paying credit card bills on time, according to a CBS4 Investigation.

“You think it’s fair to say this was a waste of taxpayer dollars?,” CBS4 investigator Brian Maass asked school superintendent Dr. Roberta Selleck. “Absolutely, absolutely,” Selleck replied.

CBS4 reviewed a sampling of Selleck’s District 50 credit card bills between 2007 and 2010. They showed the district repeatedly paid late for Selleck’s monthly credit card bills, incurring finance charges that ran between 21 percent to 24 percent a month. Those late fees ranged from $75.13 one month to $93.04 another month.

“That seems financially irresponsible,” Maass said. “You know what? We agree,” Selleck said

Selleck, of course, vowed to change procedures, increase transparency on purchases lacking documentation, and eliminate the type of waste uncovered by the investigation. Expenditures for questionable travel made by the superintendent figure prominently in the lengthy disclosure, based on the district head’s own credit card entries.

Brian Maass of CBS 4 has more: