State auditor presents award to Westlake Schools

Auditor of State Dave Yost personally congratulated the Westlake City School District and CFO/Treasurer Mark C. Pepera for the district’s fourth “perfect audit.” Yost said Westlake’s financial report provides an “honest look” at the school district’s finances and “tells the whole story of the financial condition of the district.”

Yost also complimented Superintendent Dr. Daniel J. Keenan Jr. and the Board of Education on the district’s Excellent rating on the Ohio Local Report Card, indicating that the school district “must be doing things right.”

Pepera credits the achievement of the Auditor of State award to a concerted effort by his staff to enforce fiscal policy and maintain a high level set of internal controls and financial reporting procedures, as well as buildings and departments following those guidelines. Under Pepera’s fiscal watch, the Westlake City School District has been nationally recognized for 12 consecutive years of excellence in financial reporting.

Within the past year the school district earned the “Exemplary Saver” status award from the Ohio Schools Council for being among the top 25 percent of participating school districts for savings dollars; received the Ohio School Plan Best Practices Award for its efforts in actively controlling risk; successfully refinanced the 2003 series bonds on the Performing Arts Center project to save Westlake taxpayers more than $571,000 in foregone interest costs; had its Aa1 bond rating reaffirmed by Moody’s Investors Service for “strong fiscal oversight” and “conservative budgeting practices”; and earned the AA+/stable long-term rating from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service for good financial management practices.

You can read Westlake’s audit at  http://www.auditor.state.oh.us/auditsearch/detail.aspx?ReportID=92185