New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced the following school audits have been issued.
Cohoes City School District – Medicaid Reimbursements (Albany County)
The district did not maximize Medicaid reimbursements by submitting claims for all eligible services provided. Auditors reviewed reimbursements for 20 eligible students, 13% of the eligible student population, and determined claims were not submitted for 814 eligible Medicaid services. Had these services been claimed, the district could have realized reimbursements totaling $12,603.
Bradford Central School District – Online Banking (Steuben County)
While online banking transactions were appropriate, district officials did not secure access to online banking. In addition to sensitive information technology (IT) control weaknesses officials did not ensure that authorized access to online bank accounts was limited. The district did not have an adequate online banking policy and procedures.
District officials did not establish adequate controls over network user accounts and did not develop a written IT contingency plan. As a result, the district had additional entry points for attackers to access and view personal, private and sensitive information on the network and did not have sufficient documented guidance or plans to follow to resume essential operations if an unexpected IT incident occurred. Additionally, auditors found that of the district’s 1,909 network user accounts, 1,896 were granted unneeded administrative permission and 105 network user accounts were unneeded.
Herkimer Central School District – 2014 Building Renovation Capital Project (Herkimer County)
The board and district officials did not properly plan and manage the renovation project. Officials borrowed $2 million more than needed for the initial project and used the funds to make other non-voter approved renovations. The district also borrowed project funds early, resulting in about $89,000 in unnecessary additional interest costs, and paid claims that exceeded the authorized purchase order by $95,100.
Attica Central School District – Financial Management (Wyoming County)
The board and district officials did not properly manage fund balance and reserves. Officials’ practices of consistently appropriating fund balance and reserves that are not needed circumvent the statutory limit on surplus fund balance and lacks transparency. Officials also consistently overestimated budgetary appropriations by an annual average of $2.7 million (10%). In addition, officials maintained four reserves totaling $2.4 million without demonstrating they were reasonable, needed or necessary, improperly restricted more than $3.5 million in a debt reserve, overfunded the unemployment insurance reserve and did not fully implement 2016’s audit recommendations addressing overfunded reserves.
Port Jervis City School District – Financial Condition (Orange County)
The board and district officials did not effectively manage the district’s financial condition and levied more taxes than needed to fund operations. As of June 30, 2021, recalculated surplus fund balance totaled $23.6 million, exceeding the 4% statutory limit by 26 percentage points, or $20.4 million. Auditors project that the district will generate another operating surplus of approximately $9.3 million in 2021-22 and will not need to use $903,000 in appropriated fund balance.
Sodus Central School District – Software Management (Wayne County)
District officials did not establish adequate controls to prevent inappropriate, unnecessary and unauthorized software from being installed on district computers. As a result, auditors found all 39 network user accounts reviewed had permissions that allowed the accounts’ users to install software on their computers without authorization. Of 134 software applications reviewed, only three (2%) were listed on the district’s software inventory and 27 (20%) were unneeded or did not have a specific business purpose, including eight unauthorized software applications on 17 different computers.
Mount Morris Central School District – Claims Auditor (Livingston County)
The claims auditor did not ensure claims had adequate supporting documentation for her review prior to approval. Auditors reviewed 89 claims totaling approximately $5.3 million and found 86 claims did not contain adequate documentation for the claims auditor to perform a proper audit. The claims auditor inappropriately audited 17 of 41 claims that included Greater Southern Tier Board of Cooperative Educational Services (GST BOCES) service charges totaling $58,320. The board should have audited these claims because the claims auditor is an employee of GST BOCES.
Windsor Central School District – Fuel Controls (Broome County)
District officials did not have adequate internal controls over fuel credit card purchases and fuel inventory, such as written policies and procedures. As a result, 18,369 gallons of fuel costing approximately $38,300 are not accounted for. Employees used district credits cards to purchase fuel, but records were not always maintained to report who used the credits cards or what district vehicle, or equipment was fueled. Officials also did not confirm the district received the fuel it purchased when it was delivered.
Jefferson-Lewis-Hamilton-Herkimer-Oneida Board of Cooperative Educational Services
BOCES officials did not always use competitive methods when procuring goods and services. Auditors examined purchases totaling $8.2 million and found purchases totaling $1.2 million were either not competitively procured or not procured as required by the BOCES’ purchasing regulation. BOCES officials did not use a competitive method to procure professional services and insurance coverage from seven vendors totaling $855,265. Officials also did not competitively bid three lease purchases and one straight lease for equipment totaling $318,450, as required, or have support that they obtained the required number of quotes for six purchases totaling $39,758.
Jamesville-Dewitt Central School District – Claims Auditing (Onondaga County)
Auditors reviewed 88 claims totaling approximately $5.5 million and found the district needs to improve the claims audit process. The claims auditor duties were not well defined and, because the claims auditor was also the information technology coordinator, his audit of claims he initiated, totaling more than $48,000, was not independent. Thirteen claims totaling $20,936 had at least one exception, such as a lack of purchasing agent approval prior to purchase, evidence of competition or compliance with written contractual agreements.
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