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NEWS from the Office of the New York State Comptroller
Contact: Press Office 518-474-4015

State Comptroller DiNapoli Releases School Audits

June 5, 2018

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced his office completed audits of Berlin Central School District, Galway Central School District, Hudson Falls Central School District, Mount Sinai Union Free School District, Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District and the Scotia-Glenville Central School District.

"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."

Berlin Central School District – Vehicle Fuel Inventory (Rensselaer County)

Auditors found vehicle fuel inventory records are not maintained; vehicle mileage records are not compared to fuel consumption; and fuel storage tanks are not adequately secured or inspected. In addition, district officials did not compare fuel purchases with fuel usage records.

Galway Central School District – Fund Balance Management (Saratoga County)

Although district officials appropriated fund balance annually to finance operations, none of the fund balance was used for operations for the 2013-14 through 2015-16 school years. When the amount of appropriated fund balance that was not used is added back, the unrestricted fund balance exceeded the statutory limit by amounts ranging from 8.2 to 14.8 percentage points.

Hudson Falls Central School District – Retiree Insurance Contributions (Saratoga County)

District officials have established adequate procedures to ensure that retiree health insurance contributions were accurately billed, collected, recorded and deposited.

Mount Sinai Union Free School District – Financial Condition Management (Suffolk County)

As a result of operating surpluses, the district's total fund balance increased from $12.4 million as of June 30, 2015 to $16.6 million as of June 30, 2017, a 35 percent increase. During the period, unrestricted fund balance exceeded the statutory limit by $3.6 million to $7.6 million.

Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District – Information Technology (Nassau County)

District officials did not provide cybersecurity awareness training to all employees. In addition, officials did not disable or remove unnecessary user accounts in a timely manner.

Scotia-Glenville Central School District – Financial Condition Management and Extra-Classroom Activities (Schenectady County)

Appropriations were unrealistic and appropriated fund balance was not used. As a result, the district's recalculated unrestricted fund balance ranged between 10 and 11 percent of ensuing years' appropriations, exceeding the statutory limit. Auditors also found student treasurers did not issue duplicate press-numbered receipts for extra-classroom activities' collections.

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