Auditor gives Hammonton School District a clean opinion; district reports $15.37 million fund balance

Chris Bodecker, the district’s external auditor from Holman, Farina and Allison, told the Hammonton Board of Education that the 2024–25 audit presents an unmodified (clean) opinion and that auditors found no material weaknesses or compliance findings.

Bodecker highlighted two summary pages in the report — the letter of transmittal and management’s discussion and analysis — and said auditors also performed single-audit testing on major federal and state programs, including the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act grant, and found no reportable issues in those programs. “We have what’s called an unmodified opinion,” he said, adding that the emphasis-of-matter paragraph in this year’s report reflects a new Governmental Accounting Standards Board presentation requirement and does not change the audit opinion.

Bodecker gave a brief fund-balance snapshot: total district fund balance of $15,367,000, of which $4,551,000 is excess surplus (the amount required to be applied to the 2026–27 budget), about $1,691,000 is unassigned, and other amounts are held in capital, maintenance, emergency and unemployment reserves. He said no corrective action plan was required of the board based on audit findings.

A board member flagged a typographical error in the draft audit that named a different district in one sentence; Bodecker said the typo would be corrected immediately and the corrected report would be issued.

The auditor offered to answer questions after the meeting and said the audit and any accompanying documents are available to the public as required under the state open meetings and records rules. The board took no specific action on the audit itself at the meeting.