WISD reports clean audit, revenues down

WEATHERFORD — Weatherford ISD Board members learned at a recent workshop that the district had once again received a clean audit report and will receive the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting as awarded by the Government Finance Officers Association.

The unqualified audit — administered by Snow, Garrett and Company — did indicate a drop of $1.4 million in revenue because of the dismal economy during the 2008-09 school year. Plummeting interest rates and fewer delinquent tax collections caused the revenue decrease.

“WISD has been experiencing the same financial issues we’ve all been facing at home,” Superintendent Dr. Deborah Cron said, “but on a much larger scale.”

Dr. Cron said the district normally receives around $1 million in interest each year, but that amount has dropped to $200,000 — and soon to be less — because interest rates have gone from 4.4 percent in May 2008, to 1.47 percent in May 2009, to .32 percent in December 2009.

WISD’s recent financial software conversion also resulted in an $800,000 discrepancy in actual costs versus budgeted personnel costs.

“We have spent many late nights working diligently to pinpoint specific areas of concern,” Dr. Cron said. “As a result, both processes and monitoring schedules have been put into place to ensure more accurate accounting procedures.”

Gary Snow, CPA and partner at Snow, Garrett and Company, said that software conversions are always difficult for organizations. WISD had to change financial software because the older program was phased out at the Educational Service Center.

“School districts normally experience a tremendous learning curve over the old and new software,” Snow said. “The business department had problems analyzing and extracting data which had resulted in some missed expenditures.”

A staff review of the 2009-10 budget indicated that the district continues to be on target for expenditures, but that revenue is down about $200,000 because of increased student absences in October 2009 that were associated with H1N1.

The district is currently cutting budgets by 10 percent and has a review process for any vacated positions in non-instructional areas in an effort to make up for the H1N1 outbreak.

In one final area, the audit recommended that the District closely monitor is budget and, if possible, increase fund balance reserves.

“Although we have had the same tax rate since 2007, costs for utilities, food, insurance and other expenses have continued to rise,” Dr. Cron added. “We have tightened our belts to continue to offer the same services, but it’s gotten more and more difficult.”

In 2005, WISD’s Maintenance and Operations tax rate was $1.50 per $100 assessed values before the implementation of House Bill 1. Then, following the passage of HB1 by the Texas Legislature, the Maintenance and Operations rate fell to $1.37 in 2006 before finally reaching $1.04 in 2007.

“We owe it to our taxpayers to have a transparent financial system in reporting,” WISD Board President Yale Young said. “What our taxpayers need to know is that WISD receives the same amount of funding from the state as those districts which may not be experiencing substantial growth in their communities. Any excess money due to commercial growth in the Weatherford area, for example, goes back to the state’s coffers. Thus, all the economic growth that Weatherford received in the last several years did not impact the dollars that flowed to the district. The state system is set up so that the funding level remains flat. The state receives all the tax revenue that goes over the rate set by the Legislature.”