Audit Objective
Did Spencerport Central School District (District) officials authorize and accurately calculate separation and unused leave payments?
Audit Period
July 1, 2023 – May 16, 2025
Understanding the Audit Area
In addition to established wages and salaries, school districts (districts) often provide separation payments to employees for a retirement incentive or all or a portion of their earned but unused leave time when the employee retires or otherwise leaves district employment. Some employees are also eligible for periodic payments of unused leave. These payments are an employment benefit generally granted in collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), individual employment agreements or non-unit benefit agreements authorized by a board of education (board) and can represent significant district expenditures. Therefore, district officials should ensure separation and unused leave payments are authorized and accurate before making payment.
From July 1, 2023 through January 31, 2025, District officials made separation and unused leave payments totaling $670,439.
Audit Summary
District officials did not always appropriately authorize and accurately calculate separation and unused leave payments, resulting in erroneous payments. This occurred because District officials did not perform an adequate independent review of separation and unused leave calculations and eligibility. Without written procedures to provide guidance and clear expectations, District officials did not implement a practice to review supporting documentation when reviewing and approving the payments. As a result, calculation errors went undetected.
We reviewed separation payments totaling $357,327 and determined that payments totaling $48,058 (13 percent) were not appropriately authorized or accurately calculated. As a result, District officials overpaid three employees a total of $14,213 and underpaid one employee $77 for separation payments.
We also reviewed unused leave payments totaling $51,851 and determined that payments totaling $3,045 (6 percent) were not appropriately authorized or accurately calculated. Therefore, District officials overpaid two employees a total of $1,715 for unused leave.
Without an adequate review and approval process, District officials cannot provide assurance that future separation and unused leave payments will be appropriately authorized and accurately calculated.
The report includes four recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the District’s process for authorizing and calculating separation and unused leave payments. District officials agreed with our recommendations and their response is included in Appendix B.
We conducted this audit pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the State Comptroller’s authority as set forth in Article 3 of the New York State General Municipal Law. Our methodology and standards are included in Appendix C.
The Board of Education (Board) has the responsibility to initiate corrective action. A written corrective action plan (CAP) that addresses the findings and recommendations in this report must be prepared and provided to our office within 90 days, pursuant to Section 35 of the New York State General Municipal Law, Section 2116-a (3)(c) of the New York State Education Law and Section 170.12 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education. To the extent practicable, implementation of the CAP must begin by the end of the next fiscal year. For more information on preparing and filing your CAP, please refer to our brochure, Responding to an OSC Audit Report, which you received with the draft audit report. The CAP should be posted on the District’s website for public review.