“You are extraordinarily healthy”
The Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery Central School District has received “clean opinions across the board” in it’s annual audit, as required by New York State Department of Education. That information was relayed to the board last week by CPA Chris Melley of Nugent & Haeussler PC.
“You are an extraordinarily healthy district, with very little debt for a district your size,” Melley told the Board of Education during a virtual BOE meeting. The same results were presented to the district’s Audit Committee the week prior.
Personnel from Nugent & Hauessler did their work in the offices of Assistant Superintendent for Business Denise Cedeira over the summer months. Melley said that Cedeira and her staff — Joann DiLorenzo, Alison DellaPorte and Nicole DeSousa — need to be commended.
“Your 2019-20 books were closed very well,” he said, “that is a real accomplishment. They work very hard and take this very seriously. They did a phenomenal job.”
Melley also commented on something he said he doesn’t always see — Cedeira teaching her staff as they go along, “making them independent in an office that really has good checks and balances”, Melley said.
Among the things Melley noted:
— The district’s reserves are reasonable and in accordance with the state’s guidelines.
— Instruction is the biggest expense in the budget, while property taxes are the biggest revenue.
— Capital project spending reports are all done well.
BOE President Anne Lawless thanked Melley and his staff for their work in Cedeira’s office this summer during construction at O’Neill High School. She also congratulated Cedeira and her staff for the work they do “in these unprecedented times”.
Board member Gus Koutsourades asked Melley what ‘grade’ he’d give the school district in the keeping of its finances.
“An ‘A’,” Melley said, “and a gleeful one at that.”
