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Liberty board OKs audit for 2011
Liberty
The board of education approved having the state audit its financial affairs for fiscal year 2011, while board members still await the results of the fiscal year 2010 audit.
Although district Treasurer James Wilson is not sure when the fiscal year 2010 audit will be complete, auditors told board members the fiscal year 2011 audit will be completed by Feb. 28.
Fiscal year 2010 began July 1, 2009, and ended June 30, 2010. Fiscal year 2011, began July 1, 2010, and ended June 30, 2011.
Originally, the board planned to have the pre-audit conference on the 2011 fiscal year during its regular meeting Monday outside of an executive session.
But Diana DeVito, board president, said Ohio law made audits exempt from the state’s sunshine laws.
DeVito also said the board also hopes to fill board member Gloria Lang’s seat by the Jan. 9 organizational meeting.
Lang resigned from her position Sept. 13, midway through her second term. Board members will approve her replacement and still are looking for community members interested in the post.
“It’s going to have to be someone exceptional to come at a time like this,” DeVito added.
The district is in fiscal emergency and facing a $1.9 million projected deficit in fiscal year 2012, which began July 1.
The state fiscal commission, the entity charged with guiding the district back to solvency, has asked for $1 million in cuts before the end of the fiscal year, which will be June 30, 2012.
DeVito said the school’s administration and the board’s finance committee, consisting of herself and board member Jeff Grinstein, have met to discuss possible cuts.
“We are looking at every single contract and every pattern of spending to reduce our deficit,” DeVito said during the meeting. “It’s going to be difficult, but it has to be done.”
Superintendent Stan Watson said in the past he plans to present $1 million in cuts to the fiscal commission in January.
The board also approved the hiring of Brian Jones as head football coach for next season.
“I am looking forward to leading us back to prominence like we used to be,” Jones said.
Jones graduated from Liberty in 2005 and became the assistant coach the following year.
He spent four years as an undergraduate assistant at the Youngstown State University football program before returning in 2011 as the high school team’s quarterback coach.
Jones said he would place academics first but told the board it takes both the administration and the community to make a good football team.
“When we come out every Friday night, we ask you to be out there,” he said.