From left, Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education member John Panebianco, Vice President Joe Pawelski, and President Paul Abbott share a laugh at Tuesday’s meeting at M.J. Fletcher Elementary School. P-J photo by Michael Zabrodsky

The Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education Tuesday approved an external audit correction plan, and an internal audit corrective action plan.

Both action plans were the result of internal and external audits that were taken during the 2023-24 school year, Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said. He added that the New York State Comptroller regularly audits the school district.

The external audit, conducted by Buffamante, Whipple, and Buttafaro, of Jamestown, found that, as of June 30, the fund balance was higher than the accepted state level.

According to JPS Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Brittnay Spry, the fund balance was more than 4 percent as indicated by the state.

The auditor’s recommendation is that the district should continue to monitor fund balance throughout the year and continue to review its options with regards to reservation and designation of the fund balance.

The corrective action plan has the district continuing to monitor its fund balance, and will review all options with regards to reservation and designation of fund balance. The anticipated completion date is June 30, 2025.

Spry noted the internal audit, performed by Johnson, Mackowiak and Associates, of Fredonia, suggested that the district’s food service team begin implementing an inventory system and monitor the use of blanket purchase orders.

The auditor’s recommendation said the district has a system in place to manually count inventory each week. Manually counting inventory allows for increased mistakes and miscounts to be made. Also the audit found that in September 2023, a cafeteria employee was allegedly taking inventory. The employee was terminated, and the implementation of the new inventory system will help prevent instances of loss.

The corrective action plan calls for the food service team to begin using a new computer software inventory system. The anticipated completion date is June 30, 2026.

The use of blanket purchase orders is a permitted form of purchasing, but the auditor said the use of blanket purchase orders can also be used as a mechanism to bypass the approval process.

The auditor recommended the district should be sure to issue purchase orders only for repetitive purchases of specified items. Each blanket order should list in detail the items expected to be purchased and the unit price per item, and blanket purchase orders should not be used as an open line of credit with vendors.

The corrective action plan calls for the district’s business office to continue to monitor the use of blanket purchase orders to ensure they are being used properly and appropriately. The anticipated completion date is June 30, 2025.

Whitaker noted that using an external auditor saves the district, and district taxpayers money.