Kingsley Responds To Tuition Reimbursement Articles
Published: May 1, 2008
I feel compelled to respond to Michael Bates continued distortion of my reimbursements from the county for attending college classes. He has purposefully left out information that he has in his possession.
First of all, I think education is one of the most important opportunities of our lives. If we have the opportunity to learn information that can help us in life or in our position at work, we should grasp at that opportunity. I have tried to do so all of my adult life.
I started college while I serving in the U.S. Coast Guard and have been taking classes often since 1974. I have received tuition assistance from the G.I. Bill and from the City of Clearwater while working there. I received an associate's degree in fire administration from St. Pete Junior College and a bachelor's degree from Eckerd College while working for the City of Clearwater Fire Department.
When I retired, I went to the University of South Florida for two years at my own expense to become a teacher. As a teacher I took classes regularly, as do all teachers, and was reimbursed for the costs.
When in 2001 I started to work on a master's degree in business administration, I was a county commissioner. The first two classes I took were called organizational behavior and legal environment of business — how a business works and the legal aspects of being in business. Both were very relative classes to my position.
I receive every benefit every other county employee receives. I submitted a claim for reimbursement to the human resources department. It was questioned. It was taken to the then-County Administrator Paul McIntosh. He questioned it. He consulted with the county attorney's office and the finance department in the clerk's office. They both gave him the OK or he would not have signed it. He signed off on both classes. Mike Bates has this information but chose not to disclose it. It was sent to the clerk's finance office for processing with all of the appropriate paperwork and was processed. At this point only the clerk and her office of finance manager have anything to do with payment. I had nothing to do with the process. Human resources had nothing to do with the process.
I had been very careful to file for reimbursement only for classes I thought were pertinent and useful. I am on my 11th class of 12. Each class costs me $1,650. I am up to about $16,500 in costs; the county had reimbursed me for about $3,600 for which I was grateful. I have fully paid that back. I believed these classes to be invaluable to me and a great help as I worked for the citizens of Hernando County. The last class I filed for reimbursement started in October 2007. Mike Bates left that out as well when he talked about repayments and years of service. This is almost May, seven months later.
When Karen Nicolai brought up her concerns to me I first said to her, “Why now after all this time?” She had no answer. I said, “If that is what you think, let's clear it up, I want to make sure there is no perception that I am doing the wrong thing.”
I think all employees should take advantage of college reimbursement programs. It enhances their abilities and provides better service to the community. There are not too many companies that do not offer educational incentives to their workers.
I have been very open about the fact I have been going to school. I have even talked about it during board meetings. My goal has been and always will be to improve my ability to serve, whether in the Coast Guard, as a firefighter, a teacher or a county commissioner. I have tried to take care of any concerns there are with this, and I apologize for any misconceptions.
Chris Kingsley
County Commission
Chairman
Editor's note: Hernando Today reporter Mike Bates did not withhold any information from his articles about Chris Kingsley's tuition reimbursement from the county. The information Kingsley refers to in his letter was given to Bates on Tuesday and was published in Wednesday's paper. Kingsley also is not a county employee as he continues to insist. Kingsley, like all county commissioners, is an elected official, who's a state employee by state statute.
