San Benito High School District trustees approved an annual audit report this week that reconciled discrepancies for $1.2 million in property tax funds between books maintained by the County Treasurer’s Office and the County Office of Education.
The district’s annual audit, completed by an independent firm, was finished late after auditors had to reconcile a $1.2 million sum between the County Treasurer’s Office cash and the County Office of Education. The revelation came out during the high school district board meeting Tuesday.
The 2014-15 fiscal year report was prepared by Vavrinek, Trine, Day & Co., LLP, according to background information in the agenda packet. The audit report recommended timely and regular reconciliations of cash between the County Office of Education’s general ledger and the County Treasurer to make sure differences are detected and corrected.
The $1.2 million sum was found to be from property taxes, according to background information in the agenda packet for the recent board meeting. The money was from the former Hollister Redevelopment Agency, explained Roseanne Lascano, the director of finance and operations, who spoke with the Free Lance on Thursday.
The district had the money in their coffers all along, but records at the County Treasurer’s Office and the County Office of Education didn’t properly reflect that, Lascano explained.
“It’s basically a paper transfer,” she said. “We had the money all along, but the books weren’t reflecting properly.”
The auditor still noted several interfund transfers posted to the County Office of Education’s ledger system, yet not forwarded or posted by the treasurer’s office, according to the report.
“I know that we’ve had former employees—what would you call them—directors of finance, who understand the history of trying to work well with the county office and trying to reconcile and it’s never been an easy process,” Superintendent John Perales told the Free Lance.
Perales commended Krystal Lomanto, a relatively new county superintendent of schools, for streamlining the process and working with the high school to make sure the district’s money was deposited on time and in the correct fashion, he said. The auditors also found no findings with Associated Student Body funds, something that is relatively rare, especially for a large high school, Perales explained.
