Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Finance Audit topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Auditors issue clean opinion as board hears fiscal 2024 results and liabilities
Summary
Independent auditors gave Newberry County schools an unmodified (clean) opinion on the June 30, 2024 financial statements, while warning about pension and retiree health liabilities and recommending attention to pupil activity controls.
David Phillips, a partner at audit firm Green Penny Collie, told the Newberry County Board of Trustees on Dec. 16 that auditors issued an "unmodified opinion" on the district—s June 30, 2024 financial statements, a designation he described as a "clean" audit.
Phillips said the district—s total fund balance remained about $26.7 million and that unassigned fund balance was approximately 25.2 percent (about 36 percent of 2024 actual expenditures and roughly 35 percent of the 2025 budgeted expenditures). Total revenues were about $64.6 million, driven in part by property tax and stronger investment earnings, while expenditures were about $70.3 million, an 11 percent increase over the prior year largely attributable to salary and benefit increases including step and cost-of-living adjustments.
The auditor highlighted several structural liabilities: the district—s allocated share of the state—s PEBA pension liability (discussed as roughly $77.9 million by the presenter) and a poorly funded retiree health (OPEB) plan. Phillips said changes in accounting for compensated absences will take effect next year and that staff will work with central office accountants to estimate expected leave payouts.
On compliance, Phillips said single-audit work on Title I and ESSER funds produced no findings. He cautioned that pupil activity funds can present recurring small-control risks and recommended internal control attention to reduce the odds of periodic losses.
Board members asked how recurring state funding and one-time allocations should be treated in budgeting; the audit partner noted the district receives projections from the state and the department of education and that future allocation changes would need to be monitored. The board moved to accept the audit report and approved it by voice vote.
What happens next: the board accepted the audit and will continue to work with staff on the implementation items Phillips flagged (compensated-absence accruals, pupil-activity controls and ongoing monitoring of pension/OPEB pressures).
