The Philomath School Board received a positive annual financial report during its March 13 meeting with only a few minor issues pointed out by the auditor.
Kori Sarrett, of Accuity, performed the audit and shared a few notes with board members during a short presentation, including reporting on two overexpenditures that were discovered. One of those involving the Clemens Community Pool operations fund, which Sarrett said was not a big concern.
“No one’s surprised, right, because of the way the year went with the pool and everything going on with the pools locally,” she said.
The audit showed that $162,808 had been appropriated for the pool fund for the 2023-24 fiscal year and that expenditures added up to $178,084.
The other issue involved a School Board resolution that had been approved to move $2,100 between categories within the Trust and Agency Fund. The issue related to the district not budgeting any money for that particular category — in this case, community services — receiving the transfer amount, which is not allowed under Oregon budget law and would require approval of a supplemental budget.
“We have to flag it if it’s over even a dollar but not something that is a huge concern,” Sarrett said, adding that in the future, the district could budget $10, for example, in such categories to have an easy way to move money.
The audit included a deep dive on the district’s new child nutrition program.
“Part of the reason we chose child nutrition is that you had a change in management of the program,” Sarrett said. “I’m happy to report that we found no issues and in fact, when we were here in the spring and you came in and talked to us about the processes and controls that you have, we were thrilled. They’re doing a great job.”
Sarrett shared kind words about the district’s business office, which is headed up by Jennifer Griffiths as director of finance and operations.
The annual financial report can be accessed online.
The audit was approved by the board on a 5-0 vote.
