[read complete report – pdf] 

Audit Objective 

Determine whether the Eden Central School District (District) Board of Education (Board) and District officials provided sufficient oversight of and managed the District’s 2022 capital project (project) in a transparent manner.

Key Findings 

The Board and District officials did not provide adequate oversight or manage the project in a transparent manner. We determined that: 

• $545,538 of additional work was not included in the project proposition or subsequently communicated to voters. As a result, voters were not afforded the opportunity to approve or reject the additional work. 
• Officials did not seek competition for $3.2 million paid for change order work and professional services. Therefore, officials may have paid more than if the work was awarded through a competitive process. 
• The Board did not review and approve any of the 108 project change orders totaling $1.4 million, and officials did not submit change orders to the New York State Education Department (SED) in a timely manner for approval. 

Recommendations 

The audit report includes eight recommendations to help District officials improve their oversight and management of capital projects.

District officials generally agreed with our findings and recommendations and indicated they would take corrective action. Appendix B includes our comment on an issue raised in the District’s response.