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Sto-Rox auditor reports clean opinion; district ends 2024–25 with $17 million fund balance
Summary
Auditor Kim Turnley told the Sto-Rox School District board the 2024–25 audit yielded an unmodified opinion and no single-audit internal control findings; the district closed the year with a roughly $17 million positive general-fund balance and transferred $2 million into a capital reserve fund.
Kim Turnley, the district auditor, told the Sto-Rox School District board that the district’s 2024–25 financial statements received an unmodified (clean) opinion and that single-audit testing for federal programs showed no internal-control findings this year.
Turnley said the district’s general fund swung from an approximate $5 million negative balance in 2021 to about a $17 million positive balance at the end of 2024–25, a net change she described as roughly $22 million. She attributed part of the improvement to late state COVID‑related allocations and to the district’s spending and revenue outcomes: “you were sitting on a $17 million positive fund balance,” she said.
The auditor reported the district transferred $2 million in 2024–25 into a capital reserve fund to address identified projects, noting that the general fund finished about $4.1 million above expenses for the year after revenues came in higher than expected. Turnley also reviewed cafeteria results and single-audit testing, saying, “we tested Title I and the national school lunch program and there were no internal control findings.”
Turnley warned the board of an upcoming government accounting standard change that will require audits to include a budget‑to‑actual schedule and explanations for major budget variances. She said auditors will work with the district business office to supply the additional notes and templates required by the new reporting format.
Why it matters: A clean audit opinion and a large positive fund balance are central to the district’s pathway out of financial recovery. The transfer to capital reserves signals available discretionary funding for projects, but the board heard later in the meeting that projected 2026–27 revenues may fall short of expenditures.
Next steps: The auditor provided contact information for follow-up questions and said the audit was filed with the state Bureau of Audit. Board members had no substantive exceptions to the report during the public presentation.
