Audit: District 24 has too much money

District 24 had surplus funds more than three times the limit allowed by law, according to the New York state comptroller’s office. A state audit was released last week recommending a dozen ways for the district to improve its financial practices.

At the end of the 2007-08 school year, District 24 had an unreserved fund balance of $3.09 million, or 12 percent of its budget. Legally, districts are only allowed to have a surplus of 4 percent, which meant District 24 should have been carrying a fund balance of no more than $1.02 million.

Assistant Superintendent Dan Onorato said that for last year’s and this year’s budget, the district used some of its excess funds to offset taxes. He noted that school tax bills for a majority of residents have actually gone down each of the past two years.

The audit report noted that from the 2004-05 to the 2007-08 school year, the district consistently had operating surpluses between $1.5 and $1.8 million, yet applied no more than $700,000 to the following year’s budget. “The operating surpluses were mostly the result of budgeted expenditures being greater than the amounts needed to fund normal school operations,” the report stated.

Superintendent Dr. Edward Fale said school districts do typically underestimate revenue and overestimate expenses to ensure that there will be enough money to run the district for the year. He also noted that in the 2007-08 school year, state aid came in higher than was projected when the budget was developed.

The district still is over the legal limit in surplus funds and Fale said there is a plan to bring them into compliance. He noted that money will continue to be used to offset taxes and if there is a state aid reduction in the middle of this school year, the money could make up that difference. “We would be able to maintain positions and programs,” he said.

Fale said the district also plans to ask voters for permission to start a capital reserve fund. He said one specific project this would fund is to make Brooklyn Avenue School fully handicapped accessible. An elevator and several ramps need to be built at the school, Fale explained, and reasonably soon.