ALBION, NY (WKBW) — On March 11, the comptroller’s officeissued this audit on The Albion Central School District.
The report has three key findings:
- The Albion central school district overestimated required funds by $24 million from the 2017-18 school year to the 2020-21 school year.
- The school district is over-funded and did not properly use the retirement contribution reserve fund.
- The district could not explain how the finance committee participated in the budgeting process.
The comptroller’s office said the district collected more property taxes than needed with a total excess fund of more than $17 million.
The population of Albion as of 2022 is 5,384 people.
In a statement a spokesperson from the comptroller’s office said:
“The Albion Central School District needs to make notable improvements in how it manages its fund balance and reserves. The district must do a better job of budgeting so taxpayers are not paying more for school taxes than they should. The district has indicated it will act on our recommendations."
On Monday night, at the districts first board meeting since the audit, the school board voted to pass a corrective action plan that will be submitted to the comptroller’s office. The board did not discuss details of the plan.
But in a response to the comptroller’s office (page 108-110) the school board said, “the districts goal is to re-size the appropriated fund balance by having more accurate revenue and expenditures.”
The comptroller’s office said they will closely monitor the school districts plan over the next few months to ensure the district reduces its high fund balance.
As for what happens with that 17 million in excess property taxes, that’s unclear because no one from the district would comment at the board meeting Monday night.
