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October 03, 2020

School district audits released during the week ending October 2, 2020

On October 2, 2020, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the following school district audits have been issued. 

Click on the text highlighted in color to access the full report.

Northern Adirondack Central School District – Financial Condition (Clinton County and Franklin County) Auditors found expenditures have exceeded appropriations by a total $626,000 in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Additionally, the budgets are not structurally balanced and have used $1.5 million in appropriated fund balance to fund operations. Because of the district’s ongoing reliance on fund balance to finance expenditures, the total fund balance has declined from about $2.5 million at the beginning of 2017-18 to about $1 million at the end of 2018-19. In addition, the board has not adopted a multiyear financial plan or a plan to address the declining fund balance. 

Northern Adirondack Central School District – Leave Accruals (Clinton County and Franklin County) Auditors determined that employees are allowed to earn vacation leave accruals that exceed the amount allowed in board-approved contracts. Errors occurred in the leave records maintained for 24 of the 33 (73 percent) employees tested. The district overpaid seven employees $29,686 for unused leave accruals. 

Owego-Apalachin Central School District – Special Education Services and Medicaid Reimbursements (Tioga County)  District officials did not ensure that students received all services in accordance with their individual education programs (IEP). Auditors reviewed IEPs for 28 students who received services in 2018-19. They found that these students did not receive 1,057 (39 percent) required physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and counseling sessions. Five students did not receive any required therapy and counseling services. In addition, officials did not have procedures in place to reschedule missed sessions. The district was not reimbursed for 427 of 729 eligible services (59 percent) totaling $12,170.  

Red Creek Central School District – Financial Management (Wayne County and Cayuga County)   Auditors determined that actions taken by the board and district officials to manage financial condition were not transparent and more taxes were levied than necessary to sustain operations. Approximately $1.5 million (72 percent) of appropriated fund balance from 2016-17 through 2018-19 was not used as planned. In addition, the board did not adopt multiyear financial and capital plans.

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