Bloomfield R-XIV receives good audit return

BLOOMFIELD-During the first evening of the 51st Annual Bloomfield Christmas Tournament, the district's School Board met to approve the annual audit.

The results came as good news to a group who was still excited over the afternoon defeat of Van Buren.

Auditor Jess Stroder, of Beussink, Hey, Roe, Seabaugh and Stroder C.P.A.s, met with the Board in a special called meeting to explain the results.

"The financial statements are accurate," Stroder told them of the reports that were nearing the deadline to be turned in to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (D.E.S.E.).

The delay in finalizing the report has been a result of the untimely death of the district's bookkeeper, LaDonna Hutchison, during the 2006-07 school year.

"After the death of the district's bookkeeper, several individuals were involved in finishing the accounting for the fiscal year," Stroder said. "Anytime you have a change in bookkeepers that's hard to deal with. That's very hard for the district to have to make it through."

He said that the majority of the mistakes he believed to be "honest mistakes" due to having so many people trying to get things back on track.

The district also installed new accounting software during the prior year and it has made for some minor hiccups during the learning process.

"It's not the most user-friendly, but it is a very useful tool," Stroder told the Board.

District Superintendent Dr. Sheila Perry said that the office has been working already to correct some of the mistakes outlined in the report.

"We didn't see any wrongdoing but we think its good to just shuffle the controls around a bit," Stroder said. "We required a lot of paperwork this year to get to this point. It's really been a long process."

The report states that other than 3 over-budget expenditures, all budgetary procedures and records of pupil attendance and transportation.

The three over expenditures were for $122,394 out of the General Fund, $20,000 from the Special Revenue Fund and $120,702 from the Capital Projects Fund.

Board President David Cooper questioned how the district stood in relation to the original budget because the figures given are after the amended budget, but Stroder said he did not have the figures for the budget in its original state.

Again, most of these are believed to be mistakes.

The report does note land purchases from the prior year as one reason for being over budget. The report from the auditor refers to the properties as "needed for future expansion" because of the school being land-locked and unable to grow in any direction without property acquisition.

The report also speaks briefly of the need to "renovate and possibly expand school facilities," and how the failure of two tax increases and one bond increase have limited the ability to do so.

Perry added that the school has cut back some $600,000 on spending this past year.

cnoles@dailystatesman.com