Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to evaluate the District’s financial condition and controls over fuel inventory for the period July 1, 2013 through November 30, 2014.

Background

The Commack Union Free School District is located in the Towns of Huntington and Smithtown, Suffolk County. The District, which is governed by an elected five-member Board of Education, operates eight schools with more than 6,900 students. Budgeted appropriations for the 2014-15 fiscal year totaled approximately $183.2 million.

Key Findings

• The District experienced large operating surpluses in 2011-12 and 2012-13 because it overestimated expenditures in its adopted budgets.
• From 2011-12 through 2013-14, only $1.8 million of the nearly $24 million of appropriated fund balance was used to finance operations.
• District officials did not maintain complete and adequate fuel inventory records.

Key Recommendations

• Develop procedures to adopt more reasonable budgets to avoid raising more real property taxes than necessary.
• Discontinue the practice of adopting budgets that result in the appropriation of unrestricted fund balance that will not be used to fund District operations.
• Adopt and implement written policies and procedures to ensure that the fuel supply is periodically measured and that adequate fuel inventory records are maintained.