Audit needed to prove tax dollars being used wisely

If you haven’t been to the WBCSD meetings lately, you’re missing the truth about the forensic audit. Phase 1 results show our financials are a mess.

There are lots of undocumented and improperly documented expenditures. There are canceled checks completely missing from the district’s accounting records. How does this happen? 

Check out Section VII.A. of the Dec. 18 school board agenda and click on “West Bonner Phase 1 Update Presentation” to see a list of checks that the auditor pointed out as being of concern.

Over a thousand checks (1,343) were found in bank statements (canceled checks provided), but no vendor names were listed in the general ledger. These checks amount to $8,305,032.95.

Sixty-one checks were found in bank statements (canceled checks not provided) where vendor names were not listed in the general ledger, for a total of $352,498.53.

One check was found in bank statements (canceled check provided), but the vendor name was listed differently in the general ledger, total of $19,640. With an accounting background, I can tell you that this was almost definitely not done by accident. This is incredibly suspicious. 

Thankfully, the school board voted to continue with the audit's second phase, per the auditor’s strong recommendation to do so.

You wouldn’t know any of this if you relied on the newspaper to report it. This isn’t just a few typos. These are serious issues. 

I know our district has several needs, but how can we support another levy to pay for them until we know with 100% certainty that our tax dollars are being used honestly and responsibly?

KRISTEN DODD

Priest River