News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The Sisters School District has $134,000 more than expected on the books this year - money that can be made available for the budget.
The money has actually been in the bank for a couple of years, but due to some accounting tangles, it was not clear until recently that it was unencumbered and available for the general fund.
District business manager Sandy Tartaglia explained that the confusion dates back to the 2005-06 school year, when business manager Diane Shelley was terminally ill and several interim business managers were trying to keep the district's finances in order.
When Tartaglia came on board for the 2006-07 school year, she found inconsistency between how the district's software and the auditors' software was calculating accounts. She tried to figure the situation out.
"I was unable to do that," she said. "I was unable to match things up."
She called in audit services from the High Desert Educational Service District, but they couldn't find the glitch.
In closing out the 2005-06 audit, Tartaglia and state auditors realized that June's tax revenues were being put into the prior fiscal year's books, though they weren't received until after that fiscal year was over.
To account for that problem, the district adjusted payables in the 2006-07 audit, which actually reduced the district's ending fund balance. That threw receivables out of whack, leaving $134,000 in the bank, but not on the books.
Auditors recently agreed that those funds were not encumbered and could be put on the books.
That doesn't mean they can be spent, Tartaglia noted.
"It hasn't been appropriated for this year," Tartaglia said.
The funds go on the books as 2008-09 ending fund balance to carry forward into 2009-10.
The district must pass a supplementary budget in order to spend the $134,000.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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