Audit Finds Mineola School District With Extra $1.2 Million

The Mineola School District remains on good financial footing and had more money left than anticipated during the 2010-11 school year according to one of its auditor’s reports.

CPA David Tellier of Melville-based Nawrocki Smith, LLP, the district’s external auditor, stated at the December 1 meeting of the that the district’s income in the 2010-11 school year presented an “excess of revenues” over expenses of $1.2 million due to cutbacks in expenses to compensate for decreases in state aid.

“Management did a great job as well as the board at administering the current year budget to be able to come in with an excess for the year,” he said.

Mineola superintendent Dr. Michael Nagler said that the $1.2 million was not the result of layoffs but the “where we didn’t realize a lot of that in the reorganization” and that it would be reflected in the 2011-12 school year.

“You had a strong year,” Tellier said in response to Dr. Nagler’s request for a summation of if the district “was in good shape and good standing” in fiscal terms.

“You’ve been making great strides over the past few years and it’s definitely reflected within these financial statements,” Tellier said.

The external auditor determines if a district’s financial statements are accurate and consistent with accounting standards so that the board can have confidence in using them to assess the financial condition of the district.

The audit focused on the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011 as well as an audit of the federal awards granted the district and the . The district conducted a similar audit on the extraclassroom fund last year and in 2009-10 payroll was audited.

An external audit consists of four stages: planning with a preliminary assessment of the risk areas, the preliminary audit in January and May where testing occurs, audit procedures on year-end balances and reporting and preparation of financial statements. Tellier met with the board on October 6 to review these statements.

Tellier reported that the audit found “no material weaknesses” in the district’s internal controls or significant deficiencies “nor were there any compliance findings in the content of our work.”

The fund balance at end of year was slightly under $7 million, $3.1 of which is assigned for next year’s expenditures or to balance the budget. About $500,000 is dedicated toward purposes such as employee benefits and liability. The remaining $3.4 million resides in the undesignated fund balance “which is within the allowable limit that’s granted to us by New York State,” said Tellier, who also met with financial planning committee on December 13.

Along with the audit the firm has made six “non-material findings” or recommendations for changes in the areas of budget transfers, cash receipts, user permissions and payroll reconciliations.

“They’ve agreed and I think are in the process of implementing them,” Tellier said of the board.

Last year there were a total of 13 prior findings outstanding, eight of which were implemented during the 2010-11 year with the remaining five in the process of being put in place.

“To have 13 outstanding recommendations almost fully implemented in one year is just outstanding,” he said.