EAST LIVERPOOL — East Liverpool City School District has issued a public statement refuting allegations published by another news outlet that the district received citations for spending funds that have not yet been appropriated.

The news outlet publishing the story said that according to an audit, the school district had expenditures of $66,781, $55,519, $86,119 and $1,658,892 from various funds as of June 30, 2024.

The Schedule of Findings from the audit the Ohio State Auditor released last week listed one finding to the district’s financial statements which is required to be reported.

The audit, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, listed the finding as follows: “Due to inadequate policies and procedures in approving and reviewing budget versus actual information, the District’s General Fund, Classroom Facilities Fund, Capital Projects Fund, and Employees Benefits Self Insurance Fund had expenditures in excess of appropriations of $66,781, $55,419, $86,119 and $1,658,892, respectively, as of June 30, 2024.”

The findings also noted that the board of education should closely monitor the expenditures and appropriations and make appropriation amendments if possible, and that this would reduce the likelihood of expenditures exceeding appropriations, and the treasurer should deny payment requests that exceed the appropriations when appropriations are inadequate to cover them.

According to the released audit, the district was assigned corrective action that includes reviewing the details of the appropriations versus the expenditures and file amended certificates if needed and deny budgetary requests when they exceed.

The corrective action plan had a completion date of June 30, 2025. District Treasurer Anson Weigand noted that corrective action has been taken.

Weigand also noted that the district was aware that the audit was going to have a repeat finding because the finding for Fiscal Year 2023 wasn’t released until 2024 and that school districts don’t run on a January through December fiscal year but a July to June fiscal year. So, the audits are an entire year in arrears. So, by the time they get the audit results they have already completed the next fiscal year.

“We knew it was going to be a repeat finding because by the time they reported to us that our appropriations were over budget, even though the appropriations were overbudget, they were in an acceptable range, which is why the State Auditor of Ohio accepted our audit,” Weigand said. There were no penalties, warnings, violations; our audit was accepted.”

He also noted that appropriations were over in Fiscal Year 2023 due to the cost of construction, supplies and material and again noted they were aware it was going to be a repeat finding because the adjustments were not made at the end of the year.

The audit shows no findings for the district’s federal awards.

The audit being referred to is from Fiscal Year July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024 which was released Aug. 1, 2025.

Megan Hernandez, Director of Communications, said the district was not cited and the reporting news agency took it out of context. She also said there were no repercussions, no audit findings and whoever did that did not check their facts. There were no negatives, and it was nothing like it was last year.

In a joint media release from East Liverpool City Schools Superintendent Jonathan Ludwig and Weigand, the district said that they “are aware of the recent WFMJ article regarding the district’s audit results and want to address the matter directly.”

Weigand noted in the release that the audit did note that expenditures in several funds appeared to exceed appropriations.

“The district was compliant with the Auditor of State’s requirements, as reflected in the annual audit report released and approved by their office. The appearance of overspending was due solely to a timing matter with year-end transfers and not an actual budget overage,” Weigand said. “We appreciate the news outlet for reaching out and doing their due diligence in confirming the facts.”

BHM CPA Group, Inc, who provided the independent auditor’s report, noted in the report “In our opinion, East Liverpool City School District complied, in all material respects, with the compliance requirements referred to above that could have a direct and material effect on each of its major federal programs for the year ended June 30, 2024.”

Weigand also said the district’s next steps will include added additional review procedures before the close of the fiscal year; ensuring all year-end transfer are reflected in the Final Certificate of Estimated Resources and strengthening the alignment between appropriates and available resources to avoid future findings.

“We remain committed to fiscal responsibility, transparency, and open communication with our community,” Weigand said.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com