The North Tama County Community School District located at 605 Walnut Street in Traer, Iowa. TAMA-GRUNDY PUBLISHING FILE PHOTO

TRAER – The annual audit report on the North Tama County Community School District was released on Dec. 9, 2024, by Nolte, Cornman & Johnson, P.C.

Financial highlights include:

-The District’s revenues totaled $7,865,297 for the year ended June 30, 2023 – a 3.6% increase from the prior year.

-Expenses for District operations for the year ended June 30, 2023, totaled $7,870,025 – a 13.32% increase.

The increase in revenues was contributed to by an increase in property tax and charges for service revenues, while the increase in expenses is due to the increase in the instruction costs incurred compared to the prior year.

Audit findings

Nolte, Cornman & Johnson, P.C. reported seven findings in this year’s report including issues related to segregation of duties, supporting documentation for purchases (pertaining to credit card policy), certified budget, board minutes (instances where the District did not document the Iowa Code section for closed sessions as required by law), supplementary weighting (number certified was overstated by 0.044), student activity fund (a scholarship was awarded and paid from the student activity fund), and financial condition.

Five of the seven above mentioned findings are repeated from the prior year. The auditing firm provided the District with recommendations to address the findings.

The North Tama Community School District Board of Education has a fiduciary responsibility to provide oversight of the District’s operations and financial transactions. Oversight is typically defined as the “watchful and responsible care” a governing body exercises in its fiduciary capacity.

A copy of the audit report is available for review in the office of the Auditor of State, from the North Tama County Community School District administrative office, and on the Auditor of State’s website: https://www.auditor.iowa.gov/reports/file/78537.pdf