×

Audit: FDCSD financial condition ‘excellent’

School system spent $50.39 million in 2015-16 school year

The Fort Dodge Community School District is spending within its means, according to an audit conducted by Schnurr & Company LLP.

The FDCSD’s total revenues from fiscal year 2015-16 were $51,976,783.

Total expenditures were $50,397,490.

Brandon Hansel, FDCSD director of financial services, said the findings were positive.

The audit showed the financial condition of the school district to be “excellent,” Hansel reported.

“We have done a nice job of balancing the appropriate level of expenditures with local taxation that we apply and have exercised prudent use of those revenues, furthering the goals of the school district,” Hansel said. “We have a lot to be proud of. We had a very good report card.”

Hansel said the budget has improved considerably in recent years.

“It has been a tough funding environment at the state level and as enrollment has declined that has necessitated some budget cuts over the years,” Hansel said. “The budget now is balanced and, in my opinion, stable and sustainable.”

Because about 80 percent of the budget is personnel costs, some reduction in the number of employees was necessary in previous years, according to Hansel.

In 2007, the district had 547 full-time employees.

That number has since been reduced to 497 as last reported in 2016.

“We try to maximize the resources we have available to us in a way that benefits the students to the best of our ability and that’s really all that we can hope to accomplish,” Hansel said.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today