School district audits release by the New York State Comptroller during the week ending November 6, 2020
On November 6, 2020 New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the following school district audits have been issued.Click on the text in color to access the full report.
SusquehannaValley Central School District – Information Technology (Broome County)- School district officials did not establish adequate information technology (IT) controls to protect against unauthorized use, access and loss. District officials did not properly manage user accounts including periodically reviewing and disabling unneeded network user accounts. Auditors also determined district officials did not maintain accurate, complete and up-to-date hardware and software inventory. Officials did not ensure that computers were free from malicious software. In fact, two malicious software applications were installed on district computers. Sensitive IT control weaknesses were communicated confidentially to officials.
White Plains City School District – Financial Management (Westchester County) - The school board and district officials did not adopt realistic budgets or maintain reasonable levels of fund balance. However, reserves were generally funded at reasonable levels and within legal limits. The district’s fund balance over the past five years grew to $97.9 million, the equivalent of 43 percent of the district’s annual budget. Some appropriations were overestimated in previous budgets and continued to be overestimated. District officials made year-end transfers totaling about $29 million to reserves. The transfers were made to stay within the statutory surplus fund balance limit and resulted in a lack of transparency because the taxpayers were not informed of the amounts that would be added to the reserves during the fiscal year.
CAUTION
Subsequent court and administrative rulings, or changes to laws, rules and regulations may have modified or clarified or vacated or reversed the information and, or, decisions summarized in NYPPL.
For example, New York State Department of Civil Service's Advisory Memorandum 24-08 reflects changes required as the result of certain amendments to §72 of the New York State Civil Service Law to take effect January 1, 2025 [See Chapter 306 of the Laws of 2024]. Advisory Memorandum 24-08 in PDF format is posted on the Internet at https://www.cs.ny.gov/ssd/pdf/AM24-08Combined.pdf.
Accordingly, the information and case summaries should be Shepardized® or otherwise checked to make certain that the most recent information is being considered by the reader.
THE MATERIAL ON THIS WEBSITE IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. AGAIN, CHANGES IN LAWS, RULES, REGULATIONS AND NEW COURT AND ADMINISTRATIVE DECISIONS MAY AFFECT THE ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS LAWBLOG. THE MATERIAL PRESENTED IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE AND THE USE OF ANY MATERIAL POSTED ON THIS WEBSITE, OR CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING SUCH MATERIAL, DOES NOT CREATE AN ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP.
NYPPL Blogger Harvey Randall served as Principal Attorney, New York State Department of Civil Service; Director of Personnel, SUNY Central Administration; Director of Research, Governor’s Office of Employee Relations; and Staff Judge Advocate General, New York Guard.
Consistent with the Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations, the material posted to this blog is presented with the understanding that neither the publisher nor NYPPL and, or, its staff and contributors are providing legal advice to the reader and in the event legal or other expert assistance is needed, the reader is urged to seek such advice from a knowledgeable professional.
New York Public Personnel Law.
Email: publications@nycap.rr.com