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Hermiston School District audit returns clean opinion; finances trending above projection
Summary
District auditors delivered an unmodified (clean) opinion, finding no material weaknesses or reportable noncompliance; the district reported revenues about $170,000 above projection year‑to‑date and noted rising unpaid leave costs that will affect payroll projections.
The Hermiston School District received a clean audit at its Dec. 9 board meeting, the district’s independent auditors said. Rebecca Ramos of Anderson, Boylan & Ramos told the board the firm issued an unmodified opinion on the district’s financial statements and found no instances of reportable noncompliance with Oregon law or material weaknesses in internal controls.
The audit included a state-required report and a Yellow Book review of compliance and internal controls and a separate compliance review of selected federal programs. Ramos said the major federal programs tested — the IDEA special education cluster, Title I-A and Title II-A — showed no reportable compliance deficiencies.
Board members and auditors discussed financial highlights from the board packet. The business office reported year‑to‑date revenues about $170,000 above projections, partly the result of the county heavy-equipment rental tax turnover and timing of payments from the Education Service District and state sources. The district’s reported ending fund balance was about 11.99 percent before larger project invoices are paid.
Finance staff also warned of offsets to the favorable projection: unpaid leave usage has increased sharply and in October accounted for nearly $70,000 of payroll cost that was not originally forecast. The business office cautioned that accounts payable timing could produce a December spike when multi-month invoices arrive.
The board thanked auditors and staff for their work. No formal action was required on the audit report; board discussion focused on understanding ADMW (average daily membership weighted) versus raw enrollment counts and financial planning implications.
