By David Fleet
dfleet@mihomepaper.com
Goodrich— On Sept 23, the board of trustees of Goodrich Area Schools accepted an audit from Flint based-Lewis & Knopf for the 2023-2024 fiscal year ending June 30.
The audit was presented by Allen Gamble.
The district ended the fiscal year with a general fund balance of $5,486,106 up from $4,580,989 in the 2022-23 year and up from $3,579,371 in the 2021-22 year.
The spike in 2023 was due to the COVID funding and Elementary and the Secondary School Emergency Relief fund (ESSER).
The district fund balance increased by $905,117, representing a hike in six of the last five years. The number represents 22% of a year’s expenditures. The district fund balance has rallied from a low of $1,336,529 in the 2013-14 school year.
“Your ending fund balance is about $20,000 too high from what the state wants to see,” said Gamble. “That’s always a good problem to have.”
The district did receive a ‘Clean Unmodified’ audit opinion, added Gamble.
“No findings or issues were noted (from the audit). The district did a fabulous job.”
The 2023-24 general fund revenues for the district were $25,389,099 up slightly from $25,121,782 for the 2022-23 fiscal year.
The 2023-24 general fund expenditures for the district are $24,483,982 an increase from $24,120,164 for the 2022-23 fiscal year.
According to the audit, 60% of all expenditures are spent on instruction of the students. The state average is about 65%. About 40% are support services. A total of 40% of the district’s funds are spent on salaries with 31% on benefits for a total of 12%. The state average is 80 to 90% for payroll.
Student count dipped slightly to 1,980, down from 1,998 students in 2019. The highest student enrollment since 2016 was 2,144 in 2018.
The board of trustees had revenues budgeted of $26.28 million and actual was $25.39 million a variance of $891,000 under budget. Similarly, the board budgeted expenditures of $25.38 million and actual was $24.48 million a variance of $899,000 under budget.