NEW LENOX – The financially troubled Lincoln-Way High School District 210’s past and future cash flow will be scrutinized under two recently proposed audits, district administrators announced after emerging from a closed-session meeting Thursday.
Superintendent Scott Tingley said administrators will present this week two separate requests for proposals in seeking auditing firm services. The move comes at the request of the board and advice from legal counsel during Thursday’s closed session.
One RFP seeks auditing services of the school’s future finances for academic years 2016 through 2018, while a second seeks an forensic audit examining the use of building bond proceeds since 2006.
“What that means is this company will come in and all the proceeds from those bonds issuances, they will track those dollars through the process of difference accounts all the way to expenditures,” Tingley said. “That’s the first step that we take. From that point, all those findings will be brought back to the board.”
Thousands of Lincoln-Way residents – including those associated with watchdog group Lincoln-Way Area Taxpayers Unite – have petitioned for a forensic audit. Board member Christopher McFadden has equally criticized the district’s current auditors. At Thursday’s meeting, McFadden asked board members to also consider going to the taxpayers in the upcoming election with an $8.5 million ballot referendum to put toward a working cash fund as the district grapples with a multimillion dollar deficit for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
It would serve as a one-shot deal to bring in revenue, he said, while the board explores its cost-savings options. The school board decided earlier this year to close Lincoln-Way North High School after the school year as a way to help the district crawl out of its budget deficit and get off the state’s financial watch list.
Proposed tax levy: The school district also began discussions Thursday about the 2015 tax levy – or the amount of money Lincoln-Way wants to collect from taxpayers in Will and Cook counties for the upcoming year. Ronald Sawin, assistant superintendent of business, proposed a $77.45 million tax levy, an increase of about $381,400 from the $77.09 million requested in 2014.
He said the district typically adopts a higher levy knowing it will be granted less money than requested once tax assessments are complete. There are many unknowns, such as the final equalized assessed valuation and estimated new construction tax revenue, that has yet to be finalized. The district expects to be extended $76.19 million.
Under the 2015 proposed levy, homeowners would pay $2.15 per $100 of equalized assessed value. The levy was $2.15 per $100 of EAV in 2014. The board voted to place the proposed levy on the district’s website. The board is scheduled to consider the proposed levy at its Dec. 10 meeting.