©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| Abingdon School District Fares Well in Audit |
POSTED 11:23am 11/12/09 The annual audit of Abingdon School District 217's finances shows a significant turnaround over the past few years that's earned the district a good financial rating.
Stephanie Ramsay of the auditing firm Gorenz and Associates presented the audit to the school board Wednesday night. Ramsay says the district had an unencumbered operating fund balance of about $1.8 million as of the end of June. Just two years ago the district had a deficit balance of $506,000 which improved to $814,000 in the black the following year.
Ramsay says that's not easy to do. "You all (the school board) deserve a lot of credit for getting that type of balance, operating fund equity, turned around," Ramsay said. "It's very difficult to have something like that, and be able to get it turned around from a deficit to a positive. With what we're seeing coming up, it's definitely something you'll need to have on hand."
Ramsay told the board that the last memo she's seen from the state education superintendent says Illinois has a potential 1-billion dollar deficit and hasn't been approved for federal stimulus dollars. The state paid its last five general state aid payments with federal money. Ramsay says the federal government is targeting both Illinois and Tennesee for auditing of stimulus funds, and the chances of schools getting that money is up in the air.
Ramsay says having a strong fund balance on hand to be able to weather a potential storm associated with not receiving state aid payments is very important. General state aid made up 42% of the Abingdon district's total revenue followed by local real estate taxes at 27%. The vast majority of the district's expenses, 71%, were salaries and benefits.
Ramsay says the school district's financial profile score was 3.7 out of a possible 4.0, earning it financial recognition status. The district's status two years ago was financial early warning. |
|
| 11 12 09 by Newsroom |
Click here for the WGIL News Archive
Click here for national news
The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.
