By NANCY HILER
The audit found that the district "did not always ensure that proper internal controls were in place and [were] operating as intended for some the district's financial operations."
Assistant to the Superintendent Toni Ann Cincotta said that new procedures and polices were immediately put in place once issues were brought to light. "We had sound internal controls in place," Cincotta said. A few procedural or policy changes were needed, she explained. The report gave the example of "duties in the payroll department not adequately segregated," a setup immediately remedied, Cincotta noted.
The North Bellmore School District takes in students from North Bellmore and part of North Merrick.
No wrongdoing
"The auditors examine everything, and then focus on areas in need of improvement," Superintendent of Schools Arnold Goldstein said. "They found, and I quote, 'No significant deficiencies, no malfeasance, no wrongdoing, nothing inappropriate,' and any issue raised had been addressed and resolved."
One finding was that the district treasurer did not retain control of her signature stamp or electronic signature. No inappropriate use of the stamp or signature was discovered in the audit, Cincotta said. The treasurer at the time had been an outside consultant, not always available when the stamp was needed, she explained. Now the district has an in-house treasurer, she said.
Another point made by the audit was that "district officials did not safeguard gasoline credit cards," which meant that they were held at a gas station rather than at the school office for fill-ups of 12 district vehicles - eight facilities trucks and four school buses - as well as lawnmowers, snow-blowers and the like. That policy has since been changed, Cincotta said. The district gasoline credit cards are now kept in a lock box and accessed only by authorized individuals signing for and returning them with receipts immediately after a fill-up.
"These audits are tools for schools to make sure proper policies and procedures are in place to protect taxpayer dollars and provide students with the best possible education," DiNapoli said in summary report of the findings.
Finally, the audit found that there were "instances of altered information on credit card slips." Cincotta explained that the gas station used a sliding receipt-generating device, so some information transferred to receipts was blurry. "Facilities guys wrote in what the cost was because at times you couldn't read the slip," she said.
When asked what stopped them from entering incorrect information, Cincotta said, "The district's standing internal claims auditor would not allow that. No payment is going out if we don't have the documentation to back it up." In short, receipts matched up with gas station records before payment. Cincotta called it "some poor paperwork."
"It is important for you all to know that the auditors were impressed with the operation of our business office and found North Bellmore to be among 'the most cooperative' districts they've worked with," Goldstein said at the Nov. 13 Board of Education meeting.
"I think we run a very tight ship," Goldstein said at the meeting. "I could say things were falling apart when I got here. I could be the hero and say I will clean up, but there's really no need to do that."
Capital bond survey
Also at the board meeting, Goldstein announced that a community survey on the subject of the recently failed capital bond issue had been completed. The printed piece would be mailed to all homes in the district within the next few weeks, he said, but asked that it be completed online if at all possible to make tabulating the results more manageable.
"The survey is posted on the Web site," he said. "You may fill it out right now." He added that the system is set up to allow only one survey per computer. The district Web site is: http://www.northbellmoreschools.org.
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