Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to review the District’s transportation and custodial operations to determine whether there were opportunities for cost savings for the period July 1, 2010, through June 5, 2012.

Background

The Warwick Valley Central School District is located in Orange County. The District is governed by the Board of Education, which comprises seven elected members. Budgeted expenditures for the 2010-11 and the 2011-12 fiscal years were approximately $78.6 and $78.7 million, respectively.

Key Findings

• The District has an opportunity to save on transportation costs by reducing excess capacity on buses, decreasing the number of spare buses in its fleet and increasing the District’s buses-to-mechanics ratio to a more efficient level. By making such changes to improve transportation efficiency, the District could realize up to $654,000 of annual cost savings and as much as $1.4 million in avoided future bus replacement costs.
• District officials can improve the efficiency of the Department of Buildings and Grounds by establishing performance measures. The Department has more staff than recommended by the National Center for Educational Statistics. If the Department maintained custodial staffing levels recommended by these industry benchmarks, the District could reduce costs by up to $293,000 annually.

Key Recommendations

• Reevaluate the design of the bus routes based on the actual number of students using the buses. District officials should eliminate buses as necessary. Reduce the number of spare buses to those needed. Assess the current level of mechanic staffing.
• Develop comprehensive performance measures to evaluate whether the District’s custodial services are delivered efficiently and economically, and then use these benchmarks to improve efficiency and productivity.