The North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District accepted its annual comprehensive financial report for the year ending June 30, 2025, after auditors outlined the district's financial position and described a reconciliation issue that required a third-party consultant.

Andrew Kuzinski, the auditor presenting the report, said the district closed FY2025 with an overall fund balance of $24,756,000, a decline of about $385,000 from the prior year. He told the board the balance included nearly $9.5 million in a capital reserve, about $1.75 million in a maintenance reserve and $5.25 million in excess surplus carried into the 2026 budget.

"For 2025, we ended with $24,756,000 in overall fund balance," Kuzinski said. He described the fund structure, noted modest year-over-year changes and called the district's reserves "a very healthy position." Kuzinski added that long-term liabilities including nets pension figures are GAAP presentation items and do not require new, immediate tax levies by the district.

The auditors also identified a reconciliation issue in the district's bank reconciliations tied to the district's use of a sweep account. Kuzinski said the records contained "one-sided" entries that made some outstanding items appear on reconciliations; no money was missing, but the entries required correction and a clearer reconciliation presentation.

"It was not that there was money missing," Kuzinski said. "It was that the way it had been recorded made it look like there was more there because there were certain things that needed to get pulled out of it." He described changes to the reconciliation format that expand detail and reduce the chance of similar confusion.

Because the detailed reconciling work could not be completed by the auditors without compromising independence, the district engaged a retired business administrator consultant, Ernie Turner, to perform the reconciliation adjustments and prepare corrected reports. Turner said his team conducted a 12-month review to resolve the outstanding items and bring the books into balance for audit purposes.

"We had to go back over the 12 months and reconcile those items in order to bring them into balance," Turner said, noting the effort involved returning to the prior audit's starting point and reconciling forward.

Board members asked whether the audit should have included a formal recommendation rather than a management suggestion. Kuzinski said the items had been corrected by July reconciliations and that, given the resolution and remediation, his firm classified the matter as a management suggestion rather than an unresolved recommendation.

After the presentation and discussion, the board voted by roll call to accept the annual comprehensive financial report and the auditor's management report prepared by The Devocia LLP of Mount Arlington. The vote was recorded as 5 yes, 1 no and 4 abstentions, and the motion passed.

What's next: Kuzinski and the administration outlined timelines for the 2026 budget process, noting the district typically finalizes its preliminary budget work by mid-March with a final adoption in April. Board members also discussed maintaining adequate capital reserves to preserve eligibility for certain grants and to limit the need for borrowing.

This acceptance moves the district forward into the budget-planning season with updated reconciliations and a clarified financial presentation.