Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to evaluate the Library’s financial condition for the period of July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013.

Background

The North Shore Public Library is located in the Towns of Riverhead and Brookhaven in Suffolk County and is governed by an elected five-member Board of Trustees. The Library comprises all of the Shoreham-Wading River Central School District and all of the Rocky Point Union Free School District and serves approximately 28,000 community members. It reported operating expenditures of $3,563,192 for the 2012-13 fiscal year.

Key Findings

• The Library retained excessive fund balance in each of the fiscal years 2006-07 through 2011-12, ranging from almost $2.2 million to over $2.4 million.
• Library officials have maintained a capital projects fund with a balance on June 30, 2012 of $266,602 despite having no current or planned capital projects.
• The Board has not received or requested adequate financial information from the Library Director, including cash flow projections, fund balance projections or a comparison of actual revenues and expenditures to budget amounts.

Key Recommendations

• Develop a policy that addresses the maintenance and expected use of fund balance.
• Return the capital projects fund balance to the general fund.
• Monitor financial activities by reviewing detailed monthly reports that include cash balances, receipts and disbursements, a comparison of actual revenues and expenditures to budget amounts and a fund balance projection.