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Haywood County Schools audit: clean opinion, $7M+ fund balance but rising costs and nutrition cash decline flagged
Summary
Auditors reported an unmodified (clean) opinion on Haywood County Schools— FY2024-25 financial statements, a $1.7 million net increase in general fund balance to just over $7 million, but warned of rising personnel/benefit costs, shrinking stimulus revenue and a $422,000 drop in school nutrition cash.
Auditors told the Haywood County Schools board that the district received an unmodified, or clean, opinion on its FY2024-25 financial statements and ended the year with a net increase in its general fund balance of $1.7 million, leaving an unrestricted balance just over $7 million.
"This is an unmodified report," said Andy Beals, a partner with the auditing firm Anderson Smith and Watts, summarizing the financial-statement opinion. He told the board the audit package includes three additional compliance reports covering federal and state grant programs; all were also unmodified with no findings.
Beals walked the board through key numbers: the district—s largest revenue source, the state total school fund, was shown at just over $53 million on the presentation, and the auditor noted that a 3% cut in that revenue would erase roughly the $1.7 million gain cited.
The report flagged several pressure points. School nutrition operations showed a net decrease in cash of $422,000 for the year: starting the year with about $800,000 in cash and ending just under $400,000. Beals said rising labor and food costs, state minimum-wage increases and flat USDA reimbursements under community eligibility programs are common statewide pressures on school food-service finances.
The audit also showed a capital-outlay fund deficit of $846,000 on the June 30 statement; Beals said that shortfall largely reflected FEMA-related reimbursements that the district expected to receive after year-end and that the deficit should be corrected in the next fiscal year when funds are received.
Beals emphasized that many districts saw fund-balance declines as federal stimulus dollars waned. "All those dollars are gone," he said of COVID-era stimulus inflows, and he cautioned the board that state and federal revenues are likely to be flat or declining while costs continue to rise for salaries, retirement contributions and health care.
The auditor concluded by noting the district had provided the documentation requested and that the audit produced no findings, calling the results "great news for the school district" while urging continued attention to cash flow and rising cost drivers.
Next steps: the board received the audit presentation and asked follow-up questions; no formal action on the audit itself was recorded in the transcript.
