Audit review: Colfax school district ended school year with $1.9 million fund balance
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — According to the unofficial audit numbers, the Colfax school district ended the 2022-2023 school year June 30 with a fund balance of $1,901,281.
The fund balance as of June 30, 2022, was $1,867,255, according to information William C. Yingst Jr., district administrator, provided to the Colfax Board of Education at the audit review meeting held at 5 p.m. July 10.
The audit of the school district’s accounts was held the previous week, and the numbers will remain unofficial until the final audit report, Yingst noted.
Without an anticipated transfer of $30,000 to the district’s Fund 46 (capital improvements), the fund balance as of June 30 was $1,901,550. With the $30,000 taken out, the fund balance would be $1,871,500, according to the information Yingst provided to the Board of Education.
Based on the full amount, this year’s fund balance is $34,296 more than last year’s ending fund balance.
Fund 10 had total revenue of $10,038,597 for the 2022-2023 school year and total expenditures of $9,252,552.
Fund 21, the donations fund, had a balance of $257,651 as of June 30, 2022, and a balance of $205,903 as of June 30 this year.
Fund 27, special education, always has an ending balance of zero, Yingst said.
The revenue for Fund 27 this year was $539,214, and the expenditures were $1,324,578, with $785,364 for special education coming out of the district’s general fund, Yingst said.
Special education is one of the “unfunded mandates” that the state Legislature has mandated must be provided but does not provide adequate funding for, he said.
The cost to the Colfax school district for special education would be “closer to $1 million if you sliced everything out and counted it,” Yingst said.
Fund 38, debt service (tennis courts, land purchase, and unfunded pension liability), had a balance as of June 30 of $42,222, which is enough to make the fall payments on each item, he said.
Fund 39, debt service (referenda debt), had a balance of $543,841 as of June 30, which is enough to make those payments, Yingst said.
Fund 46, capital projects, had a balance of $524,599 as of June 30, 2022, and a balance of $275,021 as of June 30. The money can be spent on whatever items are included on the capital improvements plan, he said.
Todd Kragness, school board president, asked if there was a sunset provision for Fund 46.
As long as there is money in the account, the fund can continue, Yingst said.
The ability to create a Fund 46 for capital improvements is no longer available to school districts.
For a period of time, school districts could create a Fund 46 into which any budget surpluses at the end of the year could be deposited.
The money in Fund 46 could start to be used five years after the fund was created.
Colfax has been using the money in Fund 46 for capital improvement projects for the past several years.
Fund 50, food service, had an ending balance of $379,501 as of June 30, 2022, and a balance of $218,940 as of June 30.
The school district can only keep so much money in Fund 50, and the excess funds are used to update kitchen equipment and replace cafeteria tables and for other items, such as painting the cafeteria or replacing the flooring, Yingst said.
