COLUMBIANA — Three more county school districts received state audit results within the last week.

While Columbiana Exempted and United Local School Districts had no findings as a result for its 2024-25 probes, state auditors cited Crestview Local School District for two.

The 2024-25 regular audit released Tuesday by Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber’s office issued a finding of noncompliance for having a negative balance of $224,831 in the district’s Food Service fund at the end of the year as well as noting a “lack of control over financial reporting in its GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) Converter.”

Neither finding resulted in any kind of financial penalty from the state.

Crestview’s audit noted: “Ohio Revised Code 3315.20 provides a school district may have a deficit in any special fund of the school district only if all of the following conditions are satisfied: The school district has a request for payment pending with the state sufficient to cover the amount of the deficit, there is a reasonable likelihood that the payment will be made and the unspent and unencumbered balance in the school district’s general fund is greater than the aggregate of deficit amounts in all the school district’s special funds,” according to audit’s findings.

The state suggested district treasurer Charlene Mercure could have remedied the negative balance with a flurry of transfers from the district’s General Fund.

In her response to the state auditor’s office, Mercure wrote that “it is (her) position that this fund should accurately reflect the true financial performances on cafeteria operation. Recording advances into the fund would distort the actual cost of operating the cafeteria.”

Mercure has served as the district’s treasurer for more than two dozen years and said that the only time the district had a positive balance on cafeteria operation was when the federal government provided additional funding, allowing all students to receive free or reduced lunches during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many school districts detail at their monthly board of education issues with their food service programs, running in the negative. Thus, they employ companies like Nutrition Inc. to oversee their district cafeterias.

Nutrition Inc. already is under contract at Crestview Local School District.

“We regularly review cafeteria operations and implement adjustments as needed to improve efficiency and move toward greater financial sustainability.”

There was no financial penalties for either of the state’s findings, Mercure added.

She offered no comment on the second finding, which auditors had deemed insignificant but advised the district to review its GAAP conversion procedures to provide more accurate financial reporting.