Northern Lebanon School Directors receive clean audit, approve routine finance and personnel items; construction work continues

The Northern Lebanon School District Board of Directors received an unmodified ("clean") audit opinion for fiscal year 2024 and approved routine business items including authorization to prepare for the district’s next bond issuance at its Jan. 14 regular meeting.

The district’s auditor, Alex Frang, told the board the auditors issued "an unmodified or clean audit opinion for the year" and recorded no deficiencies or material weaknesses. He also said the district’s single audit — required because federal spending exceeded the $750,000 threshold — produced no findings after tests that included IDEA and ESSER grants.

The audit showed the general fund had a fund balance of about $16,000,000, an increase of roughly $9,900,000 from the prior year; about $950,000 of that was reported as committed for future operations and about $713,000 as nonspendable. The audit reported $9,300,000 assigned for other projects. The Capital Projects Fund increased by about $14,500,000, driven mainly by new debt issuances. Revenues exceeded the budget by about $4,900,000 and expenditures by about $3,100,000; the budget had been presented with an $8,300,000 surplus while the actual increase in fund balance was about $9,900,000. Frang said the district made required pension and related payments.

Frang summarized liabilities and capital assets: the district reported approximately $66,000,000 in net…