Alexander County Schools reports clean audit, fund balance improves by $384,355

Alexander County Schools reported a clean audit and a modest increase in its operating reserves during its board meeting.

Chief Financial Officer Sharon Mahaffey told the Alexander County Board of Education that the district received an “unmodified opinion, which means we had a clean audit.” She said the district increased its current expense fund balance by $384,355 and presented a $60,378,765 budget for the coming year, a decrease of $3,368,273 from the prior year.

Mahaffey said state funds account for 69% of the district's budget and local funds 15%. She told the board the district received an additional $585,000 from the county commissioners, and that federal funds represent about 7% of the budget, an increase driven by a summer-program grant. Mahaffey also reported that salaries and benefits together account for the large majority of spending.

Superintendent Dr. Bill Griffin said the board and administration had previously used $809,404 of fund balance during the 2023-24 school year and that the combination of decisions and changes this year allowed the district to reverse that trend. "We were able to put back into fund balance $384,355," Griffin said, and he described the cumulative one-year improvement as roughly $1,193,759 as presented to the board.

Board members repeatedly praised finance staff and district employees for the audited results and the budget work. At the same meeting the board voted to approve a resolution related to the budget materials presented; the resolution was moved by board member Art Boyes and seconded by board member Anthony McClain and carried unanimously.

The district's finance presentation included slides showing that capital outlay decreased after completion of projects such as the Sugarloaf work and a turf field, and that retirement and health-insurance costs contributed to state-budget pressures. Mahaffey warned that some numbers discussed in the presentation reflected year-to-year comparisons and project timing.

Board members and the superintendent framed the financial results as the product of difficult decisions made over the past year and emphasized that continued prudence will be necessary to maintain stability and support school operations.

The board did not specify in the meeting record the formal name or number of the resolution it approved; details beyond those presented in the finance slides were not provided during open session.