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Gadsden County School Board approves 2023–24 annual financial report; one member opposes
Summary
The school board voted to approve the 2023–24 Annual Financial Report on July 24, allowing the superintendent to sign and submit it to the Auditor General; board members sought additional review and account detail before closeout.
The Gadsden County School Board voted July 24 to approve the district's 2023–24 Annual Financial Report, clearing the way for the superintendent to sign and submit the report to the state Auditor General.
The report was presented to the board by Ms. Bruner, who told the board the AFR "was presented Tuesday night, but we failed to get a motion to approve. And I need that motion to approve so that the superintendent can sign it, and then we can submit this to the state and to the auditor general." Board Member Scott moved to accept the superintendent's recommendation; the motion carried with one member recorded as opposed.
The AFR is an itemized record of the district's fiscal year activities, listing revenues and expenditures across general fund, federal programs, food service, debt service and other accounts. Ms. Bruner said the report shows the district "did dip into some of our fund balance and I don't have that exact number," and that staff would complete a full closeout of the 2024–25 year before the final budget process.
Board members pressed for additional details before and after the vote. One member said they had not fully reviewed the document before the meeting and was not "in a place where I'm comfortable approving tonight," but acknowledged the report must be submitted by the state deadline. Ms. Bruner confirmed the Auditor General's submission deadline was July 31 and said staff had a few days to file the report.
The board asked staff to distribute account-balance information to all members; Ms. Bruner agreed to provide those figures. She said the district will complete the 2024–25 closeout by Sept. 11 so that the final budget can include accurate fund-balance figures, and that department-level budgets for 2025–26 will be set after the final budget process.
The board vote authorizes the superintendent to sign the AFR and submit it to the Auditor General. No dollar amount for total overspending was provided at the meeting.
Next steps listed by staff include completing the 2024–25 closeout, publishing the tentative budget notices (handled separately during the meeting), and delivering department account balances to board members.
The board moved on at the close of the vote to consider the tentative 2025–26 budget and related advertisement for TRIM and millage notices.
