Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to review the District’s management of financial activities for the period July 1, 2012 through December 4, 2015.

Background

The Pembroke Central School District is located in the Towns of Pembroke, Darien, Batavia and Alexander in Genesee County. The District, which operates three schools with approximately 975 students, is governed by an elected five-member Board of Education. Budgeted appropriations for the 2015-16 fiscal year total approximately $21.4 million.

Key Findings

• The District consistently overestimated appropriations in the adopted budgets and did not use all of the annually appropriated fund balance toward subsequent years’ budgets.
• Four of the District’s reserves appear to be overfunded or contain funds that are improperly restricted, and District officials consistently budgeted for expenditures that could have been paid for with reserve funds.

Key Recommendations

• Develop realistic estimates of appropriations and the use of fund balance in the annual budgets to avoid raising more real property taxes than necessary.
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• Develop a written policy that indicates the amount of funds to be reserved, how each reserve will be funded and when the balances will be used to finance related costs.