Audit Shows Financial Positives For HCSD

An audit of the Harrison Central School District's 2010-11 budget shows the district under spent by approximately $4.4 million that year, restoring the money to the district's fund balance.

According to the audit, the district received $342,000 in unexpected revenue from county sales tax and also received $274,000 more in federal funding than anticipated. The district also benefited from a reduction in health care premiums that created $1.2 million in savings from 2009-10 to 2010-11.

Robert Salierno, the district's assistant superintendent for business, said the money saved in 2010-2011 will restore money the district burrowed from its fund balance to help balance the .

The fund balance essentially serves as the district's savings account. The money was taken from the reserve fund after district officials projected the savings last spring. Borrowing from the fund balance can set a dangerous trend if the money isn't eventually restored, which the audit shows HCSD was able to do.

Salierno said this was the first time the district has had to dip into the fund balance and is something the board will keep an eye on moving forward. 

"As the budgets are getting more and more lean, when we say we are going to appropriate $4 million, we might start actually using the $4 million, that's when you start seeing that fund balance coming down," he said.

Harrison actually added approximately $200,000 to its $21 million fund balance as a result of the savings in 2010-11.

The review of HCSD's spending also revealed other positives.

The district's emergency fund remains at the maximum 4 percent of the total budget. Also, overall bonded debt stands at approximately $6.7 million, which is very low according to Scott Oling, who conducted Harrison's audit. Oling said of the 15-18 districts he works with, Harrison is in the best position in terms of debt and could hypothetically pay off all of its capitol projects within the next three years.

"You have the lowest debt level of any public school district I (work with)," Oling told the Harrison Board of Education Wednesday. "I don't see that, really, anywhere."

Oling added that in other districts debt service makes up as much as 7 percent of the overall budget, in Harrison it makes up less than 2 percent.

These types of audits look for revenue shortfalls, overspending and trends that might lead to problems down the line. Overall, Salierno said the audit found no conflicts within the district's budget in 2010-11, a good sign for HCSD moving forward.