Few Answers From Incomplete Audit Of Burlington Music Program

BURLINGTON, MA -- An audit that was meant to appease Burlington Town meeting members that questioned how the school system's music department was spending money has raised more questions than answers. Burlington Town Meeting's ways and means committee requested the audit of the performing arts fund in March after realizing the fund had run up a $100,000 deficit. The audit was conducted in August but, because school officials did not provide the auditing firm with complete details of how the account was managed, it paints an incomplete picture of school spending.

Superintendent Eric Conti and music program director John Middleton Cox did not respond to requests for comment. The music program audit by Roselli, Clark and Associates of Woburn will be discussed at the school committee meeting on December 19. That follows the November 14 meeting, when the school committee was grilled over the results of a separate audit on student activity accounts.

Still, the incomplete audit's findings are revealing in many ways. The music and performing arts revolving account, which was primarily set up to help fund and collect ticket revenue from the shows put on by the department, has a permanent deficit of $80,000, even though state law prohibits such accounts from having a deficit. Since 2015, the cumulative deficit has topped $156,000, which had to be offset with additional funding from the school district's operating budget.

The audit attributed the deficit to the community concert series sponsored by the school district. The series puts on four concerts annually and has booked national acts like the Glenn Miller Orchestra and Beatlemania. The auditors estimated that, on average, talent fees ran about $10,000 for each concert, while only about $6,000 was collected in ticket sales.The auditors attributed the remainder of the deficit to travel expenses for the performers, which often included airfare, hotels and meals.

But the auditors didn't have access to account ledgers that broke down exact expenditures. Either way, the audit noted, funds for the concert series should have been approved by town meeting through a warrant.

Also of concern for several town meeting members were the estimates from last year's high school musical. School officials estimated that in the spring of 2016 the district sold about 450 tickets per night to each of the five performances of Mary Poppins. But parents who had children in the show said the 840-seat high school auditorium was full or nearly full on each night of the performance. Others said they had inquired about tickets for the show but were told there were either no or only single seats available.

The same estimate was used for the spring 2017 production of Peter Pan, according to a show budget obtained by Burlington Patch, and parents once again noted that the 840-seat auditorium was full or nearly full during all of the performances. The budget shows that tickets were sold for an average price of $12.50.

Auditors also found that tickets that were sold for cash on the day of the show were listed as "comp," the show business term for complimentary, or free tickets. The price those tickets were sold for was not recorded. The audit was unclear on whether or not receipts from those ticket sales were deposited into the account. The audit also said a cash box the department keeps to make change for tickets sold on the night of performances was not recorded on the town's general ledger, meaning "at some point in the past these funds were collected and not turned over to the Town Treasurer."

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Patch file photo of Burlington Superintendent Eric Conti.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).