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Audit finds no corrective actions; Manchester Township reports $1.6M drop in general fund balance
Summary
Auditors told the Manchester Township Board the district filed its annual report early and the audit showed no findings requiring corrective action; the general fund balance decreased about $1.6 million, driven by rising transportation and health-benefit costs.
Rob Provost, the auditors' partner in engagement, told the board that the district filed its annual material review ahead of most peers and that the audit found “no findings that required corrective action.” The district submitted its report on Dec. 20, he said, and earned a certificate of excellence for continuous strong financial reporting.
Why it matters: the audit also flagged a roughly $1,600,000 decrease in the district’s general fund balance compared with the prior year. Provost and other presenters said the decline is largely driven by higher transportation costs — up about $506,000 — and increased health-benefit costs, which the auditors estimated rose by roughly $750,000 year over year. The presenters described loan and fixed costs and contractual salary changes as additional pressures on future budgets.
The auditors described enterprise funds such as food service (bolstered last year by a $147,000 supply-chain-assistance grant) and the Regional Bay School (which saw about a $100,000 increase in tuition revenue) as operating well. “We were in that time when we checked, I think there’s only 35% of the Board of Education, after it’s filed,” Provost said, adding that filing on Dec. 20 put the district “way ahead of the curve.”
Board members thanked auditors and staff for the work and noted the district’s current fund balance of $5,122,303 while emphasizing the need to preserve reserves to absorb continuing cost pressures. The board did not take additional formal financial action at this meeting; the audit and these highlights will inform upcoming budget discussions and hearings.
