Lisbon had a very clean audit for the 2023 fiscal year.
Lisbon business manager Laurie Maher said that the district’s unspent balance slipped by roughly $200,000 in the past fiscal year, which was something the district was aware was going to happen.
That dip for the district in unspent balance dropping also had an impact on the district’s solvency ratio, dropping from 18 percent to 11.88 percent.
“That’s still a healthy solvency ratio, but it’s something we’re going to want to be mindful of and keep up in the next fiscal years,” Maher said.
Maher said that the enrollment numbers are still in the positive for the district, which is a far cry from where numbers were in 2010.
“Having a positive certified enrollment for the district makes a huge impact to the district’s bottom line,” Maher said.
The only area the district was dinged on is one they get dinged on every year – segregation of duties.
“There’s just no way to get rid of that in a small district,” Maher said. “We continue trying to improve and segregate our duties, but it’s something we get flagged for every year.”
Board member Allan Mallie asked if the construction projects that the board has tackled in 2019 and now in 2023 have impacted the unspent balance in years where those happen. Maher said that she was unsure, that funds for construction come from separate funds, but there could be expenses that impacted the general fund for items not necessarily related to those projects that may influence that.
Board member John Baker asked about the retirement fund that showed to be negative in the audit. Maher explained that is a fund that shows if the school were to close today and how long IPERS would be paid if they were all made at once, which would put the district at a deficit.
“It’s something that would never happen,” Maher said. “But the audit needs to reflect that and be something they keep track of.”
Maher also approved a contract with Kay Chapman for accounting services for the next two fiscal years at $10,000 and $10,400.
Maher said there are fewer auditors who are doing audits for school districts and when she went for requests for proposals for the audit for the Lisbon district, Chapman’s audit was the low bidder, with the other company having a bid of roughly $25,000 to $27,000.
“Chapman only offered us a two year extension to her contract and that may be because she’s looking to retire in the future,” Maher said. “It’s something the board should prepare for is that audits are going to cost more than are currently budgeted in the next few years when this goes out for proposals again.”
Lisbon students heading to BPA Nationals
Four students will be attending the Business Professionals of America Nationals in Chicago in May.
Ryley Stone, Bennett Cart, Chris Ricke and Payton Donohoe all qualified in different events for the conference and are now raising money to offset the costs of attendance.
“It’s a great experience for our kids, and I’m excited that they have the opportunity to do this,” said secondary principal Jack Leighty.
School calendar approved
The district approved the calendar for the 2024-25 school year.
Superintendent Autumn Pino said that there was nothing major in changes from what was discussed in February by the board.
“We just made tweaks to make the rhythm feel better in September,” Pino said.
The early out on December 20 will remain as well.