ALBANY – An audit of the Ellenville Central School District by
the State Comptroller’s Office found the school board adopted budget
that overestimated expenditures by more than $11 million during the audit
period of July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2015. It also found that during
the audit period, the board appropriated almost $14.7 million of fund
balance, most of which was not used.
“When the unused appropriated fund balance is added back, the district’s
recalculated fund balance as a percentage of the ensuing years’
appropriations ranged between 9.2 percent at 13.5 percent and was in excess
of the legal four percent limit,” the auditors wrote. “Hence,
the district actually retained more fund balance than was legally allowable.
Budgeting practices which result in the district maintaining fund balance
in excess of the amount allowed by law results in real property tax levies
that are greater than necessary to fund operations.”
More than $11.1 million unused resulted in “unnecessarily levied
taxes and compromised transparency of district finances to district residents,”
the state officials said.
The report said the school board should adopt general fund budgets that
include realistic estimates for expenditures and discontinue the practice
of adopting budgets that result in the appropriation of fund balance that
will not be used.
The unused funds should be used to pay off debts, finance one-time expenditures,
and reduce district property taxes, auditors concluded.
In response to the audit, Superintendent of Schools Lisa Wiles wrote that
“the district had already begun to align the budgeted appropriations
more closely to the actual expenditures, as evidences by a decrease in
the 2015-16 budget in the amount of $471,602. The projected 2016-17 budget
will reflect additional reductions.”
