PARIS — SAD 17 Business Manager Cathy Fanjoy Coffey told the SAD 17 Board of Directors on Monday night that the district ended the 2013-2014 fiscal year with a fund balance of $1.36 million. A total of $440,464 was unallocated in the new fiscal year budget.

Coffey said the unaudited financial report of fiscal year 2013-2014 showed a beginning balance of $1.46 million on July 21, 2013. Added to the revenue for the fiscal year of $35.59 million with expenses amounting to $35.69 million, the district was left with a  balance of $1,363,464 on June 30 of this year, she said.

The district budgeted for a fund balance of $923,000 for the fiscal 2014-2015 budget and were left with less than 1 percent (.7 percent) variance in actual dollars.

Coffey said the unallocated money was in large part due to $388,287 in additional state subsidy the district received halfway through the last fiscal year. The district also received $17.15 million in state subsidy funds, which were not taken into account when the district budget was being developed for approval in June by voters in the eight communities that make up the district.

“We brought forward our best estimate,” said Superintendent Rick Colpitts said of the discrepancy in the budget numbers.

Coffey said the South Portland accounting firm MacDonald Page is auditing the district’s financial books and expect to finish this week.

Coffey said part of the audit also includes a review of funds received from other sources, such as federal grants and No Child Left Behind funding for special education, which had a remaining balance of $80,837, largely because of $63,000 in additional funds received halfway through the fiscal year.

Food services, one of the few self-sustaining services in the district, showed a decrease of almost $59,000 in large part due to investment in major equipment this year.

Adult education funding stayed “pretty stable” with a remaining balance of $87,951, Coffey said.

MacDonald Page will notify the district if there are any adjusting entries by the end of the month, she said. The report will be completed in December and presented to the Finance Committee.

School Board members praised Coffey for the “fine job” she has done overseeing the district’s finances.

“It was challenging this year,” said Coffey, who, along with others in the administrative team, spent June and July moving their offices, including all their paperwork, from Oxford to Paris.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

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