Romulus schools receive clean audit as finances show improvement, auditor flags accounting standard change

Gaybridge and Company told the Romulus Community Schools Board of Education on Nov. 24 that the district27s financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2025, received an unmodified, or "clean," opinion.

"In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the school as of 06/30/2025," auditor Joe Veil said while presenting the district27s fiscal-year audit. Veil called a clean opinion the "gold standard" and thanked district staff for providing verifiable documentation.

The audit also included an "emphasis of matter" tied to a new Governmental Accounting Standards Board rule. Veil said GASB Statement No. 101 changed how compensated absences (paid time off) are measured and increased a liability reported on the statements by about $1,000,000. He emphasized the change is an accounting remeasurement, not a cash outflow.

Key figures presented to the board included total revenues of roughly $61 million and total expenses of about $45.5 million for fiscal 2025. Veil said the district27s unrestricted net position remained in deficit, near $53.3 million, but the district27s overall financial position improved by about $15.5 million compared with the prior year. The auditor reported an unassigned general-fund balance of $4,157,056, equal to about 9.4% of general‑fund expenditures, close to but just under the Michigan Department of Education27s suggested benchmark of 10%.

Veil also highlighted pension and OPEB trends and long-term debt. He said net pension liability decreased from about $48 million to $38 million and that aggregate general‑obligation bonds payable fell to roughly $23.9 million, with the outstanding bonds scheduled to mature in 2030. The auditor estimated roughly $8 million of principal is paid annually as bonds amortize.

Board members sought clarity on timing and messaging for any future bond proposals; a trustee asked whether issuing or scheduling new bonds before current ones mature could avoid an apparent tax increase. Veil said it is possible to structure debt so taxpayers27 annual payments do not rise even as older bonds retire.

Veil said the district currently cannot finalize and upload a federal single-audit report to the federal audit clearinghouse because the Office of Management and Budget had not yet published a final compliance supplement. He said when the supplement is released, Romulus should be able to submit the single-audit report and that the firm found no findings for the district27s major federal programs.

The board unanimously thanked staff and auditors for the clean audit.

What happens next: the district will await the OMB compliance supplement to complete the federal single-audit filing. The board did not take separate action on the audit report during the meeting.