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

Comptroller DiNapoli Releases School District Audits

September 13, 2019

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced the following school district audits have been issued.

The Academy Charter School – Credit Card Expenditures (Nassau County)

School officials did not comply with their written credit card procedures. Auditors found 119 purchases totaling $36,329 had no receipts attached to the claims. Auditors also found 39 receipts totaling $25,342, were not itemized to show the nature or purpose of the purchase. The board approved 27 meal purchases, totaling $5,790, for payment without adequate supporting documentation.

Alfred-Almond Central School District – Financial Management (Allegany County)

The board overestimated appropriations by a total of $2.3 million from 2015-16 through 2017-18 and annually appropriated an average of $495,000 of fund balance that was not used to finance operations. As of June 30, 2018, surplus fund balance totaled $1.7 million and was 12 percent of 2018-19 appropriations, exceeding the statutory limit by approximately $1.2 million or 8 percentage points. In addition, the board has not adopted a comprehensive written fund balance policy.

Cheektowaga-Maryvale Union Free School District – Continuing Education (Erie County)

Community education financial activity was not accounted for in the correct fund. Certain literacy program revenue was improperly recorded as community education revenue. Auditors also found fringe benefit costs were disproportionately charged to the community education program expenditure account instead of the literacy program, totaling $728,000. Officials also did not always properly record literacy program revenue in the correct fiscal year.

Herricks Union Free School District – Overtime (Nassau County)

Auditors found that district officials did not preapprove and adequately monitor overtime for custodial employees. District officials also paid overtime to 10 custodial employees totaling $35,017 primarily for non-emergencies. Auditors also found that with appropriate scheduling some of these overtime payments could have been avoided or reduced.

Niskayuna Central School District – Capital Improvement Fund (Schenectady County)

District officials properly established the capital project budget for the eight school buildings and transportation facility improvement project. Officials also monitored and accounted for the capital project, and ensured that work completed was within the scope of the project.

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