NEW LENOX — Lincoln-Way High School District 210 board members approved two accounting firms to perform two separate audits, a decision that comes after thousands of residents petitioned for the district to examine its finances.
Board members at Thursday's meeting unanimously approved Wermer, Rogers, Doran and Ruzon and Crowe Horwath to perform two separate audits.
WRDR will perform auditing services of the school’s finances for fiscal years 2016 through 2018 for an amount not to exceed $80,580. Crowe Horwath will perform a forensic audit examining the use of building bonds proceeds since 2006 in an amount not to exceed $14,500.
Thousands of Lincoln-Way residents – including those associated with Lincoln-Way Area Taxpayers Unite – petitioned for a forensic audit. Residents have criticized the district's financial practices after the board in August voted to shut down North high school in an effort to reduce crippling budget deficits.
Resident Lee Talley said at Thursday’s meeting the audit proposals the board planned to approve were not good enough.
“We want a total forensic audit of the budget,” he said.
Superintendent Scott Tingley said WRDR would be Lincoln-Way's new auditors for the next several years. When asked about the previous auditors Mulcahy, Pauritsch, Salvador & Co. – whom were criticized by board member Christopher McFadden – Tingley said district officials were going with WRDR.
“It’s just best practice,” he said.
Interim business consultant Steven Langert said WRDR is auditing two neighboring districts and has audited other districts in the past. He also said Crowe Horwath is doing the same audit planned for Lincoln-Way for another school district.
For the audit of building bond proceeds, Tingley told board members that district officials were “going to see what the numbers show.”
“We’ve identified that we have some concerns in those areas,” he said. “Those are the areas we’re going to begin with, to begin the research and to get exact figures.”
Once the research is done, the information will be brought to the board, and members will see if further action is needed or if it satisfies the “scope of our concerns,” he said.
Board President Kevin Molloy said the board wanted an audit of building bond proceeds because “that’s what folks seem to be focusing on.”
After it is done, board members will see if there is any concern, he said.
He said WRDR will work with Langert, whose hiring was approved by board members in September to review daily operations and program spending.
“They’ll have access to everything [Langert] is going through,” he said.