HAMLET— The Richmond County Board of Education got a clean bill of fiscal health, according to an audit report presented at Tuesday night’s meeting.
Dale Smith, of Anderson Smith & Wike, told school board members that there were no internal control weaknesses, questionable costs or improper use of grant funds. He added that there were no issues at the individual schools.
“It appears that the bookkeepers at all of the schools are doing a good job,” he said. “Overall, the audit went very smoothly, no major issues were noted, the district appears to be in excellent financial condition.”
The board’s fund balance, as of June 30, was $3,278,881, an $84,000 decrease from the amount reported last year but an improvement of the fund balance previously used.
“You all have done a good job at reducing the amount of fund balance that was needed to balance the budget compared to the last three or four years prior to the last couple of years,” Smith said.
He also went over several balances that are restricted for specific uses.
“I’m just glad to see the fund balance is not bleeding,” said Chairman Wiley Mabe.
When it came to the school nutrition program balance, Smith said there was a profit of $138,605 — more than the prior year’s balance of $84,000.
“The main reason for the improvement was that in the previous year the district spent about $146,000 on equipment needs in the program,” Smith said. “And this past year they only spent about $27,000.”
Smith said the program also paid about $160,000 in indirect costs to the general fund to cover overhead costs and had about $1.2 million in the bank.
“So this program continues to operate soundly and is in pretty good financial condition,” he said.
