Audit approved, but Hays USD 489’s funding concerns persist

Melissa Rome and Ken Berens from local firm, Adam, Brown, Berens and Ball present annual audit at Monday's USD 489 school board meeting. — Melissa Rome and Ken Beran from Adams, Brown, Beran and Ball present annual audit at Monday’s USD 489 school board meeting.

By KARI BLURTON
Hays Post

The annual audit report presented at Monday’s Hays USD 489 Board of Education meeting contained few surprises and was unanimously approved by the board.

According to Ken Beran from the Hays auditing firm Adams, Brown, Beran and Ball, the audit found no violations of Kansas state statues except for one missing pledge agreement, which has already been corrected.

However, Beran warned the district will continue to deal with funding issues.

“We are still facing the cash shortage and the funding shortage that is coming about because of the drop of tax revenues from the state that the board will be dealing with in the next five to six months,” he said.

Beran also told board members the fact oil valuations are going down has actually helped USD 489 because the taxes the district pays will go down as they do not depend on oil valuations as much as the schools in Ellis and Victoria.

A full audit report is attached in meeting’s agenda HERE.