Easthampton's Northeast Center for Youth and Families cited for $1.2 million in misspent funds

MassLive : Easthampton's Northeast Center for Youth and Families cited for $1.2 million in misspent funds:

An Easthampton social service agency that provides programs for about 600 troubled youth is being cited for overbilling, paying excessive employee bonuses and using state money to pay operating losses it incurred in Connecticut.

State Auditor Suzane M. Bump announced Thursday at her Western Massachusetts office in Chicopee that she is calling for Northeast Center for Youth and Families Inc. to repay about $1.2 million in misspent funds.

An audit of the agency, which serves children in Western Massachusetts and Connecticut, showed several violations of state spending practices during a five-year period from 2005 to 2009, she said.