Finances for Elizabethton City Schools continue to be accounted for in the right system.
The Elizabethton City Schools System recently received their audit for 2016 with a clean bill of health. This marks the ninth consecutive year with no reports found by the auditors.
ECS Director of Business and Fiscal Management Beth Wilson commended the work of everyone involved to ensure the system received a clean audit for the year.
The audit was performed by Blackburn, Childers & Steagall, an accounting firm based out of Johnson City. Throughout the report, the auditors indicated the system was a “low-risk auditee” and saw no internal control problems with financial awards to coincide with no findings in finances.
According to the report, the financial status of the Board of Education increased during the year due to the increase in capital assets with the continuing construction of the high school’s music room and new Citizens Bank Stadium. The BOE’s net position increased by $1,205,135 – eight percent. The total revenues for 2016 were totaled at $24,309,365.
Financial highlights in the report include:
• A new dishwasher purchased and be installed in the cafeteria at T.A. Dugger Junior High.
• A new convection oven purchased and installed in the cafeteria at Elizabethton High school.
• The construction of the music room and football stadium was still in progress while the new track construction at the school had just started.
• The total unrestricted/unassigned general purpose balance decreased by $226,732 (due to the planned capital expenditures at the high school campus and a transfer of $25,000 to federal projects to meet cash flow requirements). The school nutrition fund increased by $1,278 while federal projects fund increased by $25,000, due to the transfer.
The report added the total cost of all programs and services increased by $23.1 million, 3.4 percent and the “operation of community service programs accounted for 6.9 percent of the expenditures.”
Wilson added that whether a check is for 50 cents or $50,000 that employees within the system treat all finances the same and properly tract the funds to make sure all funding is accounted for. The school system’s reports come on the heels of the City of Elizabethton’s recent audit for the previous fiscal year, which also saw no findings.