[read complete report - pdf]

Audit Objective

Determine whether the Board and District officials provided adequate oversight and management of the District’s budget and financial condition.

Key Findings

• The Board overestimated general fund appropriations by a total of approximately $1.6 million from 2016-17 through 2018-19.
• Over the past three completed fiscal years, the District reported unassigned fund balance that ranged from 16.5 percent to 27.8 percent of the ensuing year’s appropriations, or four to seven times the statutory limit. Moreover, when unused appropriated fund balance is added back, unassigned fund balance exceeds the statutory limit by nearly 27 percentage points.

Key Recommendations

• Develop a plan to reduce its surplus of unassigned fund balance to comply with the statutory limit in a manner that benefits District taxpayers.
• Develop and adopt budgets that include realistic estimates for revenues, expenditures and unassigned fund balance based on historical data and known trends.
• Discontinue the practice of appropriating fund balance that is not needed or used to fund operations.

District officials agreed with our recommendations and indicated they had either already taken, or planned to take, corrective action.