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Officials told $17.9M in grants analyzed; CLA flags $4.4M in non-recurring personnel as a potential liability
Summary
CLA told officials it reviewed $17.9 million in grant expenditures and identified $4.4 million of non-recurring personnel spending; CLA said it did not trace individual employee hires to those grants without further data and recommended the district provide headcount detail for follow-up.
CliftonLarsonAllen told the Bridgewater-Raynham meeting that the district recorded $17.9 million in grant expenditures during the review window and that $9.32 million of that total remained unspent at the time of reporting. CLA identified $4.4 million of those grant expenditures as non-recurring personnel costs, and it warned those hires could create a structural liability for the operating budget if the corresponding grants were not renewed.
During Q&A, Bridgewater Town Council President John Larue asked whether positions previously funded by one-time grants had become line items in the operating budget. CLA said its engagement did not include individualized employee-level tracing as delivered: "We didn't track that headcount in the scope of this project," Eric Mason said, adding that CLA could return to identify which positions were covered by non-recurring grants if the district provided employee-level payroll or position data.
CLA also told officials it reviewed the district's single audit (SEFA) and found no material findings related to improper use of federal funds for the period reviewed. That external audit context was cited by CLA as support that grant administration and reporting practices were generally compliant, even as CLA recommended improvements to grant-tracking and capital segmentation to reduce future reporting risk.
Public speakers reacted strongly: Eric Hoy, identified as a Bridgewater resident, teacher and district employee, urged towns to fund the FY27 budget to avoid further cuts after losing 72 positions in two years, and expressed concern about over-reliance on grant-funded personnel. Town Councilor Al Murphy called the CLA engagement a waste of taxpayer money, saying the report simply documented previously known issues without producing actionable outcomes.
Next steps discussed at the meeting included school committee consideration of the FY27 budget at its next meeting and the invitation from the chair and superintendent to submit follow-up questions to CLA for additional, employee-level analysis.
