CROTON HARMON SCHOOL DISTRICT AUDIT RELEASED

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.