Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to evaluate the District’s financial condition for the period July 1, 2012 through February 26, 2014.

Background

The Chenango Forks Central School District is located in the Towns of Barker, Chenango, Fenton, Maine and Triangle in Broome County and the Town of Greene in Chenango County, and is governed by the Board of Education which comprises five elected members. The District operates four schools, with approximately 1,600 students and 225 employees. The District’s budgeted appropriations for the 2013-14 fiscal year are $30.5 million.

Key Findings

• The Board-adopted budgets for the 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 fiscal years were not structurally balanced to include recurring revenues to finance recurring expenditures.
• Although the District is currently financially stable, relying on one-time revenues combined with decreasing revenues and increasing employee benefit expenditures led to a decrease in total fund balance. Therefore, District officials may need to find other funding sources for necessary expenditures in future budgets.

Key Recommendations

• Adopt budgets that are structurally balanced with recurring expenditures funded by recurring revenues and consistent with the District’s actual revenues and expenditures.
• Closely monitor the level of unrestricted fund balance and reduce reliance on fund balance as a financing source, while continuing to evaluate and explore ways to reduce expenditures and increase revenues.