Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to review the District’s financial condition for the period July 1, 2013 through December 31, 2016.

Background

The Shoreham-Wading River Central School District is located in the Towns of Brookhaven and Riverhead, Suffolk County. The District, which is governed by an elected seven-member Board of Education, operates five schools with approximately 2,250 students. Budgeted appropriations for the 2016-17 fiscal year total approximately $72.7 million.

Key Findings

• The Board has not adopted budgets with reasonable expenditure and fund balance appropriations.
• The Board appropriated fund balance and reserves that it did not actually need to fund operations.
• The District’s unassigned fund balance was nearly 11 percent of the ensuing year’s appropriations, exceeding the statutory limit by almost 7 percentage points.

Key Recommendations

• Develop realistic estimates of appropriations and the use of fund balance in the annual budget.
• Discontinue the practice of adopting budgets that result in the appropriation of unassigned fund balance and reserves that are not needed to fund District operations.
• Use surplus fund balance in a manner that benefits District residents.