Nahant may audit school budget

NAHANT – An auditor said he would give the town “an A” as it reported increased net assets and decreased bonded debt for 2011, and selectmen wondered whether auditing the school budget could prevent some of the division among residents in the debate over the failed override for Johnson School.”One thing that became clear was that there was no general agreement on which set of economic facts could be agreed on,” Selectman Michael Manning told auditor Matt Hunt of Sullivan, Rogers and Company, LLC, at the board’s Thursday evening meeting. “Is there a general budget process that would help add clarity to the complexity of a modern-day school?? Is there a way you can help the town?”School officials proposed an override to fill a budget shortfall they attributed to reduced state and federal aid coupled with increased special-education costs. Voters addressed the request three times, rejecting it definitively at a special election in June. Many town officials and residents have since agreed that the school department budget needed to be better understood, with override opponents and supporters saying more clarity would bolster their viewpoint.But Hunt said that a “procedural audit” would be beyond the firm’s usual scope of examining numbers, not how the numbers are formulated. He also said that such a study would require the cooperation of the school committee and finance committee to be most beneficial. Resident Laurie Giardella also wondered whether the school’s reduced staff could afford to undertake or implement such a study.Selectmen agreed on further discussion among town boards before any additional audit would be requested.”This is a discussion we will continue to have,” said Selectman Chair Lainey Titus.The audit report revealed that the town has net assets of $23,935,785 of which approximately $1.8 million is unassigned – or basically its bank account – so the town can pay its bills throughout the year. The town’s total bonded debt also decreased by $638,935 this year, according to the report.