Accusations, assumptions and the WBCSD

For quite some time, there have been many accusations floating around our community regarding the finances of the West Bonner County School District.

Among the latest is a secret bank account the school district holds with $1 million worth of money that has been "found" and over $800,000 in levy money that the board was not aware of. The current board and administration have issued statements alluding to mismanagement of district funds and trying to convince the community that the prior administration was in some way doing something unethical, illegal, and definitely not providing any financial transparency. Yet, there is still no proof for any of these accusations. It seems it is just another device to muddy the waters and make school district finances even more confusing than they already are.

Since we have no proof of a secret bank account or found money, we can only make assumptions to what this might actually be. First, the secret bank account that holds $1 million in it. The logical-thinking person could make the assumption that the secret account and money are money invested by the school district in the local government investment pool. Anyone familiar with financial statements would be able to look at WBCSD’s balance sheet to determine investment amounts that have been transferred to the LGIP. The LGIP is an account held with the Idaho State Treasurer’s Office that will invest school districts funds in order to earn higher interest rates than what will be offered in the district’s regular bank account. Many Idaho government agencies use the LGIP; it just makes good business sense. Why wouldn’t a business try to earn as much interest as possible on their money? (Link to LGIP https://sto.idaho.gov/Investments/Local-Government-Investment-Pool-LGIP). If the $1 million is not funds invested with the LGIP, then the current administration needs to provide proof of the secret bank account to the community immediately.

And secondly, the $800K in property tax dollars that the board was not aware of. Anyone who owns property in the State of Idaho, let alone Bonner County, pays property taxes. The two tax assessment dates are in January and July. It only makes sense that very large tax payments will be coming to the school district in July and August because that is when taxes are due and they are paid. Anyone that may not be familiar with how schools receive tax payments or fund accounting may see this payment as new revenue or as a surprise, when in reality it is not. WBCSD has had a supplement levy in place since 2000.

Tax payments are made to the school district from the county on a monthly basis, with significantly larger payments coming to the district in January and July. Tax payments are for the voter-approved levies and are designated for specific purposes as outlined in all supplemental levy information provided by WBCSD. These levies are tracked to the penny between voter-approved amounts and expenditures. Any past levies and tax payments should not be new information to the board. Any board claim of not being aware of levies and taxes collected on those levies would be false.

It only makes sense that the board would know that the process is levies create taxes, which are then received by the school district as payments from the county. Also, the tax payments for July and August are booked back into June as revenue for the prior fiscal year. Perhaps this standard year-end accounting entry was missed because of the change in financial managers, and the new business manager may not be fully up to speed on fund accounting for schools. Again, just an assumption that a logical person might make.

DEBRA BUTTERY

Priest River