New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced his office completed audits of the Akron Central School District, Duanesburg Central School District, Genesee Valley Central School District, Iroquois Central School District, Moriah Central School District, Newark School District Public Library, New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Union Free School District, North Bellmore Union Free School District and Schenectady County Community College.
"In an era of limited resources and increased accountability, it’s critical that schools make every dollar count," DiNapoli said. "By auditing school district and charter school finances and operations, my office continues to provide taxpayers the assurance that their money is being spent appropriately and effectively."
Akron Central School District – Controls Over Compensatory Time (Erie County)
The board has not developed policies to clarify how comp time will be appropriately administered. Officials use informal, undocumented procedures that are not consistently applied. Auditors found that some district employees have been accruing comp time during normal work hours. Therefore, employees were compensated twice for the same hours which could potentially cost the district more than $80,000.
Duanesburg Central School District – Separation Payments (Schenectady County)
District officials have established adequate internal controls over separation payments. When an employee leaves district service, the board approves the retirement or resignation, and the payroll clerk reviews leave records and produces an attendance report showing leave accrual balances.
Genesee Valley Central School District – Reserve Accounts and Extra-classroom Activities (Allegany County)
Auditors reviewed the district’s preliminary reserve plan and found that for five of the seven reserves, totaling more than $4.3 million, the district failed to include a clear and detailed rationale for maintaining the reserve, the detailed objectives of the reserve, needed funding levels, sources of funding and the conditions under which the reserve’s assets will be used or replenished.
Iroquois Central School District – Financial Condition (Erie County)
District officials overestimated expenditures by a total of $21.3 million and underestimated revenues by a total of $2.3 million during the last four fiscal years resulting in a total budget variance of $23.6 million. The most significant expenditure variances were found in central services, employee benefits, teaching and pupil transportation.
Moriah Central School District – Internal Controls Over Leave Accruals (Essex County)
The board did not adopt comprehensive written policies and procedures to provide proper guidance and internal controls over leave accruals. Other than the payroll clerk providing the leave accrual balances to employees on an annual basis, there are no periodic reviews performed by a district official to ensure the accuracy of the leave records.
Newark School District Public Library – Board Oversight (Wayne County)
Auditors found that the board was not sufficiently aware of its legal and administrative requirements and responsibilities as trustees of a school district public library. The board did not provide adequate oversight of library operations, failed to develop written policies and procedures regarding financial operations and had not adopted a code of ethics.
New Hyde Park – Garden City Park Union Free School District – Financial Management (Nassau County)
Over the past five years, district officials overestimated expenditures by more than $8 million, resulting in operating surpluses totaling $6.3 million. To reduce fund balance and stay within the year-end statutory limit for unexpended surplus funds, district officials transferred money to reserve funds and consistently appropriated unexpended surplus funds to reduce the tax levy.
North Bellmore Union Free School District – Financial Condition (Nassau County)
From 2009-10 through 2012-13, the district overestimated appropriations by a total of $14.3 million. Officials did not use prior year actual results as a guide to prepare budget estimates. As a result, each year the budgeted appropriations were higher than necessary to fund district operations.
Schenectady County Community College – Internal Controls Over Selected Financial Operations (2014M-11)
Internal controls over cash receipts in the culinary arts department are properly designed; however, they were not operating effectively. For example, a review of cash collections from the department found 149 receipts totaling $20,569 were not submitted to the college bursar in a timely manner.