The Chama Valley is known for its majestic landscape — snow-capped peaks in the winter beckon to the wilderness so easily forgotten in modern times. In spring and summer, the wildflowers bring the beauty and wonder of life to the forefront.
Yet, even amidst such conditions, for a school district to function, finances must be in proper order and annual financial audits help to ensure government institutions are using the tax payers’ money responsibly.
The Chama Valley School District’s 2013 audit was released Dec. 17. Farmington-based firm, Accounting and Financial Solutions Certified Public Accountants performed the audit, which received an unmodified opinion with only three findings. An unmodified opinion is the best opinion given by the state auditor and means the auditor was able to audit the financial statements without a problem.
It also means the auditor feels confident that everything in the financial statements is a true reflection of the entity’s operations. The District has received an unmodified opinion on its audits since 1998.
“The one thing I am very pleased with is this audit had less findings than in the past and no repeat findings,” District Superintendent Anthony Casados said. “Any findings they found this year were resolved immediately, so I was very pleased.”
The auditor determined the District to be a low-risk auditee. The audit did not show any major financial statement deficiencies. The District had no material weaknesses. Also, relative to federal programs, the audit showed no findings.
Audit Findings
The three findings in the audit consisted of compliance matters.
The first finding was unfavorable variance, or overexpenditures, between actual and budgeted line item expenditures. The line itemsm which showed overexpenditures were operations support services by $11,174; Title I support services by $3,628; Entitlement IDEA-B support services by $14,419; Title III English language instruction by $2,890; Title XIX Medicaid support services by $6,493; and debt service general administration by $595.
The cause of this overspending was improper monitoring of line item expenditure by comparing budgeted amounts and actual amounts spent, the audit states.
The District resolved the issue by implementing a schedule of monthly transfers and budget adjustments by the internal auditing committee.
The second finding was lack of receipts and documentation for reimbursed travel expenses. The District reimbursed employees for actual expenses for hotel rooms and per diem for food, but there was no documentation of whether there was a meal provided at the training, the audit states.
The District’s administration will resolve the issue by educating each employee on the entitlement for reimbursement of lodging and meals under state law.
The last finding in the audit was due to the District loaning $357,038 from the capital outlay funds to the Special Revenue Fund without having enough money in the general fund to make the loan. This makes the District out of compliance with the restrictions of the capital funds and the debt service funds, the audit states. The District responded by implementing a process to request reimbursements to the Public Education Department on a bi-weekly basis to ensure a consistent cash balance in all funds.
Financial Summary
As of June 30, the District had $943,491 in cash on hand and cash equivalents. The District received $292,196 in delinquent property taxes receivable and $409,028 in grants.
The net amount for depreciable capital assets was $13,026,789 and $244,256 for non-depreciable assets. The District had a total of $5,340,538 in liabilities. The total net position for the District was $9,566,734.
The District spent $3 million on instruction; $656,395 on support services for instruction; $300,933 on support services for general administration and $525,404 on support services for school administration.
The school district spent a total of $1,223,153 on operations and maintenance.
The total balance for government funds was $1,358,069. The District had $5,190,000 in bonds payable. The total revenue was $4,949,058, with the majority, $3,920,644, coming from the state equalization guarantee.