WB school district dips into savings to fix $1.7M accounting error

WEST BLOOMFIELD — In a recent letter addressed to parents of West Bloomfield School District students, the district’s superintendent, Dania H. Bazzi, acknowledged an error that was discovered during the annual reconciliation of the district’s budget.

“In the final budget for the 2022-23 school year, we projected that the District would add approximately $1.4 million to our fund balance,” Bazzi stated in the release. “Unfortunately, there was an error in properly accounting for an expenditure related to funding we receive from the state, specifically the new 147c2 categorical funding, which was a one-time, state payment toward MPSERS (Michigan Public School Employees’ Retirement System). While the additional revenue from this source was included in the budget as an intended offset, it should have also been accounted for as an additional expenditure. What this means in plain language is that the State of Michigan provides funding to the school district via state aid, which we then are obligated to pay or ‘pass through’ into the employee retirement system.”

The release further states that the error occurred in how the revenue and expenses were recorded for the funds.

“Please know that this has no impact on our employee retirements or state funding as our accounts with the state are fully up-to-date,” the release states. “This error has caused the need for us to utilize roughly $1.7 million of our fund balance for FY23 (the fiscal year budget for the 2022-23 school year),” the letter states. “While concerning, this is something we can assess and manage; we are committed to rectifying this situation.”

A finalized audit is expected to be presented at a Board of Education meeting Oct. 23.