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Gadsden ISD finance committee reviews fund reports, lays out audit RFP schedule
Summary
Finance staff walked the committee through the district's expenditure report, explained fund numbering and encumbrances, and described the request-for-proposal process to hire the district's independent public accountant for the 2025 audit, including review dates and Office of the State Auditor deadlines.
Finance staff presented the district's monthly expenditure report and reviewed how funds, encumbrances and budget adjustments are recorded.
The committee was told the packet's report covered Feb. 1'Feb. 28, 2025, and staff explained the columns: original budget, adjustments (made by budget adjustment requests, or BARs), general ledger budget, current expenditures, year-to-date expenditures (since the July 1 start of the fiscal year), encumbrances (purchase-order commitments) and remaining budget balance. Staff emphasized encumbrances are commitments, not spent funds, and must be tracked to avoid overspending.
Staff explained the district uses a five-digit fund code scheme. Funds beginning with 1 are general funds (operating, transportation, local revenues); 2-series funds are special revenue (federal or state grants and flow-through grants); 3-series are capital project funds (construction and facilities); and 4-series are debt service. The presenter noted some grant sub-series (for example, 24x) indicate federal flow-through via the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED).
Committee members asked about specific line items discussed in the packet. Staff pointed to a $300,000 legislative junior appropriation (noted in the packet as 314-series) and reported about $113,000 had been spent. Staff also explained encumbered dollars and that many funds cannot be used for salaries (capital outlay funds, for example).
On procurement of the independent public accountant, staff said the district posted an RFP on March 26 using the auditors' RFP template and had received the state-auditor-vetted list of approved firms (the Office of the State Auditor provides a preapproved list). The finance director outlined the selection timeline: the audit committee will evaluate proposals using a scoring matrix; the committee meeting to score proposals was scheduled for April 17, 2025, at 3:30 p.m. (committee members must be present to participate). Staff said an unsigned copy of the contract must be submitted to the Office of the State Auditor by May 1; no contract is final until the Office of the State Auditor approves it. The district's annual financial audit is due Nov. 15.
Committee members asked whether multiyear contracts are permitted. Staff said contracts are typically annual but may include options to extend (up to three years in the contract language), and the Office of the State Auditor sets limits on how long a district may keep the same auditor (staff said the current limit is eight years).
Staff proposed postponing the May finance committee meeting to accommodate budget work and recommended the next finance committee meeting in early June; members discussed calendar conflicts and the upcoming board schedule.
The finance presenter closed by saying the next finance meeting would cover the account code string and functions (how budget transactions are coded and how BARs move dollars between functions), to build committee literacy for budget review.
