State Comptroller: Excessive Surplus Funds in Mt. Sinai School District

If you have not seen it yet take a look at the Mt. Sinai Patch article. http://portjefferson.patch.com/groups/schools/p/state-comptroller-excessive-surplus-funds-in-mt-sina...

This is the link to the State Comptroller's report -
http://www.mtsinai.k12.ny.us/boe/audit/2013-14/Final%20State%20Audit%200708%20-%201112%20Mt%20%20Sin...    I urge everyone to read it.

From PP. 6-7 - District officials consistently presented, and the Board approved, budgets which significantly over-estimated appropriations over a five-year period. District officials over-estimated expenditures by as much as $6.2 million each year from 2007-08 through 2011-12.  For example, over this five-year period, the District overestimated employee benefits by a total of more than $6.9 million, programs for children with handicapped conditions by approximately $4.9 million, central services by approximately $2.9 million, teaching –Regular school by approximately $2.2 million, and pupil services by more than $1.3 million.

District officials appropriated unexpended surplus funds that aggregated to more than $14 million over the past five years, which should have resulted in planned operating deficits each year. However, because they significantly over-estimated expenditures, the District experienced large operating surpluses in three years and smaller than expected operating deficits in the two other years. For that period, total actual revenues exceeded expenditures by more than $7 million and only $946,320 of appropriated unexpended surplus funds was used to finance operations, not the $14.6 million that was appropriated.

Because the Board consistently over-estimated expenditures and appropriated significant unexpended surplus funds that were not actually needed to sustain District operations, the District’s unexpended surplus funds exceeded the statutory limits for each year.

Bottom line – “District officials should not appropriate unexpended surplus funds simply to circumvent the statutory limits.” Isn't this the same thing that the Commack's School Board has been doing for years?  Residents have objected to the excess budgeting but have been ridiculed and ignored.. maybe its time for Commack School District to have be audited.  Just look at last year's report from the school district's auditors - See P. 11 - "Expenditures and Encumbrances under Budget" = $5.77M  http://www.commack.k12.ny.us/district/auditreport2012.pdf

Anyone know when the 2012/13 audit report comes out?  I bet its another year with millions of dollars in unused tax money. 

Further reason why we need to vote out long time incumbents Masciello and Wunsch as board members next year, as they are responsible for approving the repeated years of raising taxes on residents while maintaining and carrying millions of dollars in excess surpluses each year..