Jim Thorpe school board members recently reviewed the district’s annual financial audit.

The auditor declared following his review of the 2019-20 budget that the district had a “good year,” and took in more revenue than it expected.

“You as a district were budgeting for a loss. You actually did better than you thought you were going to do,” said Ed Ebling of Jones & Co.

Ebling presented the audit to the board’s finance committee during its monthly meeting last week.

The district used Jones & Co. for the first time this year after the board decided against continuing with its previous auditor, Zelenkofske Axelrod.

Ebling said that the district provided adequate information for his firm to complete the audit, and that the district was in compliance with the accounting requirement for the federal money it receives.

The district finished the 2019-20 school year with a loss of $795,000, which it covered by using money from its general fund balance.

The budget actually projected a loss of $2.9 million, but the district took in an $2 million more than it expected in revenue.

As of June 30, 2020, the district had $13.8 million in its general fund and $1.5 million in its capital projects fund.

The audit also reported on the district’s long-term debt. Between bonds and pension obligations, the total outstanding debt is $95 million. The district is currently scheduled to pay off its bonds by 2031.

The district did save some money through a bond refinancing during the school year, the auditor said.

While the audit found no areas of noncompliance, Ebling did offer some comments on possible improvements the district could make.

Some financial disclosure forms weren’t filed on time, including 1099 forms and the financial interest statements of the district’s board members and administrators.

Board President Scott Pompa said that the district didn’t have a full-time business manager during the period of the audit. He said the new business manager, Kenneth Marx, has already addressed some of the comments made by the auditor.

“We were down a business manager last year. We didn’t bring Mr. Marx on until the beginning of July. A lot of these actions have already been corrected. I appreciate the thorough audit,” Pompa said.