Lake Placid Central School District – Transportation State Aid (2023M-95)

Issued Date

October 20, 2023

Audit Objective

Determine whether the Lake Placid Central School District (District) officials applied for all applicable transportation State aid for new bus acquisitions.

Key Findings

District officials did not apply for all applicable transportation State aid for new bus acquisitions. As a result, District’s taxpayers will not benefit from the $18,842 in aid the District would have received upon State Education Department (SED) approval. In addition, if officials do not properly file the aid applications with SED, taxpayers will also not benefit from the remaining $45,034 officials can claim.

Key Recommendations

Ensure that transportation State aid is applied for and received.
File the appropriate State aid applications for the buses identified in this report.

District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and have initiated, or indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.

Background

The District serves the Towns of North Elba and Wilmington in Essex County. The elected seven-member Board of Education (Board) is responsible for the general management and control of financial and educational affairs.

The Superintendent of Schools is the chief executive officer and, along with other administrative staff, is responsible for day-to-day management under the Board’s direction.

The Assistant Superintendent for Business, Finance and Support Services (Assistant Superintendent) oversees business operations, maintains financial records and is responsible for preparing and submitting the State aid forms for new bus acquisitions.

SED provides transportation capital aid to school districts for the assumed debt service expenditures associated with the approved costs of purchased and leased buses.

Audit Period

July 1, 2018 through April 30, 2023. We extended the scope back to May 16, 2017 to review Board minutes and voter approvals for bus acquisitions.