HIGHTSTOWN: School district gets "excellent" audit; Stumbaugh credited

By Matt Chiappardi, Staff Writer
   HIGHTSTOWN — The East Windsor Regional School district received a glowing report for its annual audit this week.
   Auditor Rodney Haines, of the Medford-based accounting firm Holman and Frenia, gave the district the modestly titled “fairly stable” rating at Monday’s Board of Education meeting, saying that’s one of the best classifications a district can receive.
   Superintendent Ron Bolandi called the 2008-2009 audit “excellent” and the best he has seen in the five years he’s headed the district.
   Mr. Haines said the district had revenues of $78.19 million with expenditures of $78.25 million. However, the district does not show a loss because state aid makes up the difference, he explained.
   The district’s fund balance as of June 30 was about $4.5 million, Mr. Haines added.
   He did find three concerns in his corrective action plan for the district, but called them “immaterial” and minor.
   Those three were a purchase order that was incorrectly classified in the district’s financial ledgers; some ongoing reconciling errors that occurred when the district changed its computer software system earlier this year; and a food-service bill that was duplicated one month reflecting $1,105 in revenue the district didn’t have.
   District Business Administrator Kurt Stumbaugh pointed out that the past two audits have uncovered many more concerns — 12 in 2006-2007 and seven in 2007-2008 — than this year’s three.
   He added that his goal is to bring the number of concerns in the audit’s corrective action plan to zero next year, and said the clerical issues found in the budget had already been corrected.
   Mr. Bolandi, board President Alice Weisman and other member of the board credited Mr. Stumbaugh for the audit’s good rating, compared to years past.
   ”We are financially sound as a school district in a tremendously troubling economic time,” Mr. Bolandi said
   ”Of course, things like booking a purchase order wrong, changing a computer system and having one food-service over-claim are going to happen when you’re an $85 million operation,” he added.
   Board member Suzann Fallon had some specific praise for Mr. Stumbaugh.
   ”I can see how this has improved compared to years past when a lot of things were done haphazardly, but Kurt’s straightened that all out,” she said.
   The board accepted the results of the audit and the corrective action plan by an 8-0 vote. Board member Stu Dolgon did not attend the meeting.