School districts, towns get state audit reports

Washington State Auditor's Office released results from this year's audits for several Whitman County school districts and towns. Dates for the audit reports ranges from May 29 to June 20.

Audits were released for the Colfax, Tekoa, Rosalia, Palouse, St. John, LaCrosse and Garfield school districts. The audits were for Sept. 2017 to Aug. 2018.

The towns of Colton and Farmington also were audited for Jan. 2017 through Dec. 2018.

All schools and towns that were audited received letters from the state auditor's office stating the audit did not find the schools violated any laws, regulation, or policies.

“Based on the procedures performed, nothing came to our attention in the areas we reviewed that caused us to believe the district was not in substantial compliance with applicable state laws, regulations and its own policies.”

Among items examined in Colfax School District audit were wages, public works, architectural services, purchases, travel expenditures and enrollment reporting,

For the rest of the school districts, the auditor's office reviewed meeting minutes, assets, revenues and if verified reports were sent to the auditor.

The audit for the towns of Farmington and Colton evaluated meeting minutes from the towns, controls over assets, revenues and disbursements and verified if reports were submitted to the auditor. The office also reviewed expenditures or excessive compensation for elected officials.

A report was also released about Colfax School District's financial statements for Sept. 2016 through Aug. 2018. The report showed the Colfax High School modernization and roof repair project cost totaled $19,100,000, with $415,582.01 of it spent as of Aug. 2018.

Actual work on the project began during spring break of the 2019 school year.

The report also said the school district served approximately 560 students from kindergarten through high school, with about 90 employees. The District operated on an annual budget of approximately $8.4 million and $8.7 million for 2017 and 2018 respectively.

The audit reported the number of students in each school district. The Tekoa School District serves about about 195 students, the Garfield School District serves approximately 108 kids, the Palouse School District serves 185 students and the St. John School District serves 150 students.

Also, the Rosalia School District serves 179 students and the LaCrosse School District serves 64.