Once again, the East Hampton School District passed its annual audit with flying colors. During a school board meeting on Monday, Jeffrey Jones of the EFPR Group, said the district had earned an “unmodified opinion, which is the highest level of opinion we can offer.” As was the case last year, he said, “there were no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies.”
Revenue ended up exceeding expenses by approximately $10.8 million; the revenue increase from the prior year was about $4.9 million. This was mainly due to general increases in property taxes and Covid-19-related grants, said Mr. Jones.
Expenses for the school actually dropped by about $8 million, which Mr. Jones pointed out was primarily due to changes in the pension plan.
Last year’s audit found only one issue, which was the size of the district’s budget surplus from the previous year. At 4.75 percent, East Hampton had exceeded the state limit of 4 percent.
However, on Monday, Mr. Jones said that the restricted fund balance did increase this year by almost $2 million. The district was able to achieve this by funding the reserves and increasing the amount assigned for prior expenditures. “And what that really means,” said Mr. Jones, “is that in the 2022-23 budget, the district is committed to using cash-on-hand instead of putting those extra expenses on taxpayers. So these are all really positive numbers and really nice to see,” he said.
In response, Adam Fine, the East Hampton School District Superintendent, wrote this in an email to The Star: “Taxpayers should feel confident that their tax dollars have been safeguarded by the board of education and spent appropriately for the education of the students of this community. The auditors found no discrepancies in the books and records of the district. In fact, the auditors noted that the one issue they identified in the prior year has been corrected. Under the direction of the board of education, the district has administered a stellar educational program in line with the budget presented to the voters last May.”