FORT WORTH -- Tarrant County College Trustee Robyn Medina Winnett said she plans to reimburse the college district $41,318.94 owed for insurance coverage offered to the board from the mid-1990s through 2003.
"I plan to pay it off as soon as I can," Winnett told the Star-Telegram on Friday.At the Sept. 22 TCC board meeting, Trustee Louise Appleman, chairwoman of the audit committee, reported on outstanding debt and explained in a statement that Winnett's debt surfaced during an internal audit.In the mid-1990s, the college district offered benefits to trustees including life insurance, the district said. Winnett and Gwendolyn Morrison qualified and accepted the insurance, Appleman told the board.The insurance has not been offered since August 2003.Trustees are not paid and receive no stipends, the college district said."It was found that the two board members, who had enrolled in the plan, made payments for several years, then ceased those payments and owed the district money," Appleman's statement said.There is no record that either trustee received invoices from the district after their payments stopped, the statement said.Angela Robinson, TCC's vice chancellor for administration and general counsel, said TCC is working out a payment plan with Winnett.Winnett said that she was initially billed but that through an apparent "oversight," the bills stopped. She said it was also an oversight on her part."It's fair," she said of the audit. "It wasn't something that was being covered up."Winnett said she expects it to take her about two years to pay off the debt.Morrison paid the money she owed before the Sept. 22 meeting. Her debt totaled about $14,000, said a person who asked to remain anonymous. Morrison represents District 6, which includes east and southeast Fort Worth, Forest Hill, Everman and parts of southwest Fort Worth.Winnett, a trustee since 1996, represents District 1, which includes north and south Fort Worth and downtown. Her term ends in 2015. She is a children's counselor who formerly worked as an assistant director in the Fort Worth school district attendance office, which deals with truants.In 2010, she was sentenced to 60 days of deferred-adjudication probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor theft in a case of shoplifting. Winnett also paid a $100 fine, went through a theft intervention program and paid for her counseling, according to the Tarrant County district attorney's office.Diane Smith, (817) 390-7675,Twitter: @dianeasmith1Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
