Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to examine the District officials’ management of fund balance for the period July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2015.

Background

The Milford Central School District is located in the Towns of Hartwick, Laurens, Maryland, Middlefield, Milford and Westford in Otsego County. The District, which operates one school with 417 students, is governed by an elected seven-member Board of Education. Budgeted appropriations for the 2015-16 fiscal year were $10.1 million.

Key Findings

• District officials did not maintain fund balance in accordance with statutory requirements.
• Over the last three years, District officials failed to budget for certain revenues they consistently received and they also consistently overestimated various expenditures.

Key Recommendations

• Reduce the amount of unrestricted fund balance and use the excess funds in a manner that benefits District taxpayers.
• Adopt budgets with more realistic estimates based on prior year’s actual results and anticipated operations to avoid raising more real property taxes than necessary.