State auditor denies citizen request to re-audit Red Oak schools

Iowa’s state auditor has declined a request by local citizens to re-audit the Red Oak Community School District. 

In an interview with the Red Oak Express Monday morning, State Auditor Mary Mosiman confirmed she had received the 130-signature petition, but would be declining its request to investigate the district’s finances. 

“The issues addressed by petitioners were not auditable,” Mosiman said. “As such, a re-audit of the district was not deemed necessary.”

As part of her office’s standard procedures, Mosiman said they also reviewed the district’s previous audit. 

“Our normal procedures for a re-audit are to review the previous audit conducted by the contracted private CPA,” Mosiman said. “We did that and found no irregularities there as well.”

Kurt Kaiser, who organized the petition drive and completed the necessary paper work was disappointed but not surprised by the auditor’s findings. 

“I wasn’t surprised to see there wasn’t anything suspicious. We had no intention of finding any malfeasance,” he said. “We just wanted a detailed look at the sales tax expenditures.”

The petition drive to re-audit the school’s finances came after the board voted 3-2 to issue bonds to pay for construction of a new high school. The bonds would allow the district to borrow against future sales tax earnings.