2/28/12 update: article from THE EXAMINER NEWS: http://everythingcroton.blogspot.com/2012/02/examiner-c-h-school-district-has-excess.html
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AN AUDIT OF THE Croton-Harmon Union Free School District – Budgeting Practices (2011M-269) OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER has been released: February 24, 2012 -- [read complete report - pdf]
Key Findings - In 2008, the Office of the State Comptroller audited the District and found that the District had more than double the unassigned fund balance permitted by law. Although the report recommended keeping the unassigned fund balance within legal limits, the Board has failed to do so. Since then, the Board and District officials repeatedly overestimated expenditure items, which resulted in the continued accumulation of unassigned fund balance at year-end in excess of what is permitted by real property tax law.
ADDITIONAL COMMENT FROM REPORT: More accurate projections for the above expenditures could easily have been calculated by District offi cials and provided to the Board when developing the budget. By not using realistic estimates, the Board is creating annual operating surpluses, resulting in the accumulation of excessive fund balance. Although the District’s tax levy has remained fairly consistent, by overestimating budget expenditures the Board is placing a higher tax burden on District taxpayers than is necessary to provide educational services for District students, within the District.
I'm not surprised.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Board claims they can't find ways to reduce our taxes! Didn't they just dip into the fund balance for some school project that they claimed wouldn't cost us anything. SPIN!
ReplyDeleteWith any luck, the village will be audited next. Remember the last time this party, and some of these same officials, were in charge:
ReplyDeleteCroton financial practices assailed By MARCELA ROJAS
THE JOURNAL NEWS - April 7, 2004
only some of what was found at the time
• A recent state audit criticized the village for several of its financial practices, including not adhering to competitive bidding procedures and failing to monitor purchases made by their departments. Three companies received thousands of dollars in work from the village without having to bid for the jobs, and village officials rushed through the purchase of a firetruck, having bought a demonstration model from a sole bidder, said the March report from the State Comptroller's Office.
• The audit reviewed the village's purchasing policies and procedures for the period covering June 1, 2002, to May 31, 2003, and found several instances where the village "wasted significant saving opportunities."
• Among their other charges, the state audit found that village officials did not enforce its procurement policies that require purchases between $1,000 and $2,999 have a minimum of three verbal or telephone quotations. Purchase contracts between $3,000 and $9,999 and public work contracts between $5,000 and $19,999 necessitate a minimum of three written or faxed quotations. The audit found that village officials did not follow these procedures with nine contracts that totaled $83,840.
This is so depressing all around. Such audits mean nothing if there aren't penalties of some sort involved. I hope the Gazette will cover this school audit or the Journal. You can't rely on the so called online dailies for the controversial stuff, and as many people as possible need to know about this one. Shameful activity by the school district.
ReplyDelete