Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to review the District’s financial condition for the period July 1, 2015 through January 9, 2017.

Background

The Goshen Central School District is located in the Village of Goshen, Orange County, and serves students who reside in the Village of Goshen and the Towns of Goshen, Chester, Hamptonburgh, Wallkill and Wawayanda. The District, which is governed by an elected seven-member Board of Education, operates four schools with approximately 2,900 students. Budgeted appropriations for the 2016-17 fiscal year total approximately $67 million.

Key Findings

• In fiscal years 2011-12 through 2015-16, the Board appropriated fund balance totaling $4.9 million to fund operations, of which $3.9 million (80 percent) was not used.
• The Board has not adopted a plan that addresses accumulating and using reserve funds.
• The tax certiorari reserve was overfunded by approximately $2.1 million (25 percent) as of June 30, 2016.

Key Recommendations

• Adopt budgets that represent the District’s actual needs and discontinue the practice of adopting budgets that appropriate fund balance that will not be used to fund operations.
• Develop a written reserve fund 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.
• Review the tax certiorari reserve to determine whether the amounts reserved are justified, necessary and reasonable.