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Audit: Jersey Shore Area SD receives clean opinions; general fund near best-practice benchmark
Summary
Auditors told the board the district received unmodified opinions on both its financial statements and major federal award compliance for year ending 6/30/2025; general fund balance was about $11.9 million, above a two‑month GFOA benchmark of roughly $8.2 million, and auditors reported no material weaknesses.
John Compton, a CPA with Baker Tilly, told the Jersey Shore Area School District board on Feb. 9 that auditors issued unmodified opinions on both the district's financial statements and its compliance with major federal award programs for the year ended June 30, 2025. Compton said the district's audit is required because about $27 million (roughly 55%) of the general fund is state-funded and because the district received about $2.2 million in federal assistance, which required a single audit.
Becky Swales of Baker Tilly summarized that the district's general-fund balance totaled about $11.9 million at 6/30/2025. That balance breaks down into roughly $777,000 in nonspendable items (prepaids/inventory), about $4.2 million in committed funds and approximately $6.8 million unassigned. Swales noted the Government Finance Officers Association's two-month operating benchmark is about $8.2 million and said the district's unassigned balance alone is just under that benchmark but that unassigned plus committed balances exceed it.
Swales also explained the accounting impact of recently adopted GASB standards: the implementation of GASB 101 (compensated absences) increased governmental-activities liabilities by about $3.4 million (a rise in long-term compensated-absence liabilities) but did not affect the district's general-fund cash position. She told the board the auditors found no material weaknesses in internal control.
Compton and Swales reviewed long-term debt (about $25 million outstanding at 6/30/2025 across multiple general-obligation issues) and noted the district must continue annual disclosure filings for bond investors. The auditors said required submissions to federal and state agencies would proceed on schedule.
What happens next: the district administration and board will use the audit and the budget binders provided to inform the 2026–27 budget process, including departmental reviews planned for February and March.
Quotes from the meeting: "Because of the volume of state dollars involved there, it spells out in the state code that you need to have an annual financial statement audit done," John Compton said. "The district's general fund is sound," Becky Swales told the board and added there were no material weaknesses noted.
The board did not take a formal vote on the audit presentation; auditors filed the report effective Jan. 22 and noted the federal and state filing deadlines.
