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North Kingstown audit: auditors issue clean opinion; school general fund balance grows
Summary
Independent auditors gave the town and school financial statements an unmodified opinion and reported the school general fund balance grew to about $9.1 million (11.4% of the fund), driven by investment earnings, tuition and underspending; auditors recommended continued cybersecurity training and found no single-audit noncompliance for major federal programs.
Kyle Connors, managing director at CBIZ, presented the town and school 2025 financial statements and said auditors issued an unmodified (clean) opinion: "We feel the financial statements are free of material misstatements," he told the committee. Connors said the school unrestricted (general) fund ended the year with approximately $9.1 million in assigned fund balance, or 11.4% of that fund’s operating budget, and that fund balance increased by about $2.3 million during the year.
Connors attributed the favorable variance to stronger-than-expected revenues — notably investment earnings and tuition — and underspending of about $1.6 million against appropriations, including $1.2 million in salary/fringe savings because of unfilled positions. He noted that the school lunch fund ran an operating loss of just under $100,000 and held a net position near $1.8 million.
On pension and OPEB liabilities, Connors reported the teacher retirement plan was funded at about 68% and the general employee plan at about 85.2%. He described the district’s OPEB liability as modest and noted it decreased by $67,000 in the last year.
The audit team also conducts internal-control reviews; Connors said auditors found no material internal-control findings but recommended ongoing cybersecurity training and periodic user‑access reviews. On federal compliance, he said the district triggered a single-audit because combined federal expenditures exceeded the threshold; auditors tested ARPA among major programs and reported no noncompliance.
Committee members asked for a breakdown of which salary and service lines produced the favorable variances; Connors said administration had the detail and could provide it. The committee did not take formal policy action on the audit presentation but thanked CBIZ for the review.
