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Audit Objective

Determine whether the Board and District officials properly managed fund balance.

Key Findings

• The Board and District officials overestimated appropriations by a total of approximately $4.8 million from 2016-17 through 2018-19 and annually appropriated an average of $1 million of fund balance that was not used to finance operations.
• As of June 30, 2019, surplus fund balance totaled $2.8 million and was 12 percent of 2019-20 appropriations, exceeding the 4 percent statutory limit by approximately $1.9 million.

Key Recommendations

• Adopt budgets that include reasonable estimates for appropriations and the amount of fund balance that will be used to fund operations.
• Reduce surplus fund balance to comply with the statutory limit and use the excess funds in a manner more beneficial to taxpayers.

District officials agreed with our findings and recommendations and indicated they have initiated, or planned to initiate, corrective action.