WINNSBORO – An audit of the Fairfield County School District’s 2012-2013 budget, reviewed by the Board at their Nov. 19 meeting at the Magnet School for Math and Science, showed no significant findings. The audit did, however, show several instances where purchase orders had not been properly utilized.
“In our tests of the internal controls of the District, we noticed several instances where purchase orders were not being obtained before the purchases were made,” Eddie McAbee, of the Spartanburg-based McAbee, Schwartz, Halliday & Co. auditing firm, told the Board.
Board member Bobby Cunningham (District 5) questioned Superintendent J.R. Green about the matter, which Green assured the Board had been addressed.
“That is something we have constantly reinforced with our principals and department staff,” Green said. “Sometimes they get a little ahead of themselves and want to move forward, and they are under time constraints. We have reinforced that it is important that (we use) those purchasing orders properly before those purchases are made.”
McAbee also said the audit found that the Food Services department had failed to adequately complete federal and state applications in at least a half a dozen cases, but those omissions, McAbee said, “did not affect the determination of free and reduced (meals).”
“The state and federal government requires certain information on applications, and in some instances, six or seven out of the ones we looked at, that information was not complete,” McAbee said. “We just need to make sure those applications are correctly filled out.”
Food Services operated at a deficit of $136,000, McAbee said, which was made up by the general fund. The $136,000 transfer from the general fund to Food Services was down $700,000 from the prior year, when the District dumped $1 million into the department, most of which was to cover the cost of new kitchen equipment.
The audit also noted that the District’s total expenditures exceeded the 2012-2013 budgeted expenditures by $200,000. Kevin Robinson, the District’s Director of Finance, said that overage was caused primarily by a change in several state grants. Those grant changes, Robinson said, meant that money the District had planned to spend out of grant funds had to instead be spent with District dollars.
Audit Highlights
The District’s general fund balance increased by $1.4 million to $6.2 million in fiscal year 2012-2013. General fund revenue increased $900,000 to $33.6 million. Local revenue was up $600,000, while state revenues increased by $300,000.
The District’s net assets came in at $32,025,884, while its liabilities totaled $4,524,376.
