A big I-Team investigation found taxpayers covering the cost of one local school district's bad business habits.

Back in April, the I-Team got an email suggesting it take a look at Shorewood School District's utility bills. Turned out to be a good tip. Not only did a lot of bills get paid late, the district racked up late fees, and You Pay for It.

The I-Team poured over every bill We Energies sent Shorewood Schools between April 2007 and March 2008 for more than two dozen different accounts. On every single account, the district paid bills late.

"I've got to do that the same way when I get my utility bill or my credit card bill," said Shorewood taxpayer Paul Dix. "The same should apply [to the school district], too."

Atwater Elementary School got at total of 36 utility bills over the last year for three different accounts -- 13 got paid late. That's nearly 40%.

"I think it's concerning because that should be something that's easily budgeted for," taxpayer Karen Evans told us.

We found more concerned parents at Lake Bluff Elementary, where only 2/3 of the bills got paid on-time.

"They're here to teach our kids to be responsible adults," sighed taxpayer Richard Justice. "And it appears that they're not being responsible."

The district's high school complex, alone, has more than a dozen meters. Of the 151 bills the district showed us, it paid 47 late. That's about 30%.

"There should be a mechanism in place, particularly for those predictable bills, to get them out of the way, get them paid and be done with it," said Faith Crampton, associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Education.

Still, over the last year, district-wide, Shorewood Schools paid nearly one out of every three utility bills after the due date. And just like when we pay our electric bill late at home, when a school district does it, We Energies slaps it with late fees. In Shorewood School's case, 93 late fees in just one year.

"We're a bureaucracy," said district superintendent Blane McCann. "We're not perfect; I'm not ever going to claim that."

And even though those 93 fees only add up to $1,224.51, taxpayer weren't pleased.

"I think there's a lot better places to spend the money," Justice said.

But more importantly, it's the frequency of those fees --one out of every three bills-- that has education experts, like Faith Crampton, really concerned.

"It raises questions about is there a broader problem in the district," Crampton asked.

Crampton also wonders what else may be slipping through the cracks.

"Are they paying other bills late? What about the phone bill? What about vendors of supplies and equipment," wondered Crampton?

We asked the superintendent, Blane McCann the same question taxpayers asked us: Can you see why we worry that if the district can't pay the light bill on time, how can we trust them to manage large dollar figures, and large accounts?

"Well, partially," McCann responded. "But at the same time, we have gone back, and we have looked at all our policy and procedures."

The district starting doing that back in February when someone in the business office finally brought it up -- 93 late fees later.

"Maybe they should have come forward and said we got a late fee here," McCann admitted. "They didn't bring that to my attention or the business manager's attention right away. I'm not blaming them, I'm saying that's what happened."

McCann did blame: We Energies' quick, two-week window for payment -- not enough turnaround time for the district's purchase order system. Plus, the business office went a good chunk of the last year understaffed.

"How would think that if you have the money set aside anyway, we should be able to handle this in a timely manner and avoid those late fees," Dix said.

To do that, the district reorganized its, now fully-staffed, business office to keep a closer eye on when bills come in and when the checks go out.

"We want to pay our bills on-time, and so we are constantly watching that," McCann said.

The superintendent also told the I-Team to avoid paying future late fees, the district is working with We Energies to consolidate all two dozen of the districts accounts onto one monthly statement.