Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to evaluate the District’s financial activities for the period July 1, 2013 through November 30, 2014.

Background

The Connetquot Central School District is located in the Town of Islip, Suffolk County. The District, which is governed by an elected five-member Board of Education, operates 11 schools with approximately 6,300 students. Budgeted appropriations for 2014-15 were approximately $177.6 million.

Key Findings

• The Board did not adopt realistic budgets based on historical costs and trends.
• The District consistently appropriated fund balance that was not needed to finance operations, which, in effect, exceeded the statutory limit on unassigned fund balance.
• District officials used surplus funds each year to finance reserves instead of funding reserves through the annual budget process, which would have been more transparent to taxpayers.

Key Recommendations

• Adopt budgets that reflect the District’s actual needs based on historical trends or other identified analysis.
• Ensure that the amount of unassigned fund balance is in compliance with statutory limits and develop a plan to reduce the amount of unassigned fund balance in a manner that benefits District taxpayers.
• Ensure that annual proposed budgets include the amounts of appropriated fund balance planned to fund reserves in a way to enhance transparency to the taxpayers.