Issued Date
December 18, 2020
Audit Objective
Determine if the Board of Education (Board) and Prattsburgh Central School District (District) officials adequately managed the District’s financial condition.
Key Findings
The Board and District officials’ actions to manage financial condition were not transparent and more taxes were levied than necessary to fund operations.
- The Board appropriated fund balance totaling $1.13 million for fiscal years 2016-17 through 2018-19 but none of the money was used or needed to fund operations.
- For the last three fiscal years the District reported that it exceeded the 4 percent statutory surplus fund balance limit, however when unused appropriated fund balance is added back, surplus fund balance exceeded the limit between 11 and 15 percentage points.
- The Board did not develop written multiyear financial and capital plans.
Key Recommendations
- Discontinue appropriating fund balance that is not needed or used to fund operations.
- Comply with the surplus fund balance legal limit and use the excess funds in a manner that benefits taxpayers.
- Develop comprehensive multiyear financial and capital plans.
District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they planned to initiate corrective action. Appendix B includes our comment on an issue that was raised in the District’s response letter.