Langley Advance September 14 2010

LangleyAdvance

Speedway shines pg A11

Your community newspaper since 1931

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Your source for local sports, news, weather, and entertainment: www.langleyadvance.com

Audited circulation: 41,100 – 40 pages

Highest Price Paid for Gold!

KEY LARGO

Jewellery & Loans Ltd. 20369 56 Ave., Langley

604-534-8845

O P E N 7 D AY S A W E E K

03237301

(Behind the Baseline Pub)

SELLING LANGLEY ONE YARD AT A TIME Call

KEITH SETTER for a

Get back here!

FREE Market Evaluation

604-533-3491

Langley Chiefs goaltender Wyatt Galley reached back for the puck, during the third period of the Chiefs’ British Columbia Hockey League home opener Saturday at the Langley Events Centre. The Chiefs lost 4-3 in overtime to the visiting Surrey Eagles, in front of 2,907 fans at the LEC. See story on page A29.

Treeland Realty

Langley School District

Board vows to heed AG’s report Trustees say they will follow the auditor general’s recommendations to repair the district’s finances.

ON NOW!

MORE SAFETY.

NO OTHER BRAND HAS MORE 2010 IIHS TOP SAFETY PICKS THAN TOYOTA.*

2010 Corolla

- with vehicle stability control

2000

$

consumer cash incentive

Langley

ToyotaTown

604-530-3156 Visit toyota.ca for details.

09109103

D9497

20622 Langley Bypass, Langley

Troy Landreville/Langley Advance

the books. It makes a series of nine recominformation to support their decision-makmendations, broken down across areas of ing, the report notes. governance, internal financial controls, and In the second key area, internal financial long-term planning. controls need to be strengthened, “A key risk to the future sucthe report says. cess of the Langley SD [school “Lack of effective internal controls district] is the working relationincreases risk, including the risk of by Matthew Claxton ships amongst board trustees,” fraud,” the report says. mclaxton@langleyadvance.com the report says, adding that a One problem is Langley’s decenFailures of planning, financial controls, lack of a positive “tone at the tralized budgeting system, which and the board’s own inability to work top” and two distinct factions are gives school principals the respontogether or with staff are at the root of hindering the board’s work. sibility for their school’s budgets. Langley School District’s financial problems, “…one side is seen to have The principals often don’t have said the auditor general’s report released an agenda to remove the superenough financial knowledge or trainFriday. intendent, and the other is seen ing, and actual costs can exceed Joan Bech “We have made a number of recommenda- to accept the perspective of manbudgets. School board chair tions to the board, the most important one agement without a healthy level The report even singles out the being the trustees must find ways to work of questioning,” the report says. use of Excel spreadsheets, which are together effectively,” provincial This has caused “a culture of prone to human error and may be contributAuditor General John Doyle mistrust” on the board. ing to inaccurate numbers. wrote. Aside from personal animosFinancial accounting and management This story first The auditor general was ity, board members don’t have have been improved in recent months, but brought in earlier this year to enough governance training, there are still risks, the report says. appeared as help get the district’s finances there is no overall risk manageThe final major area of problems is longbreaking news at ment strategy for the district, in order. term planning. www.langleyadvance.com Over the course of several and the board is not holding While the district creates five-year capital months, the district went from management to account to plans, that’s the limit of its planning for the being told it had a small surplus, maintain systems of control. future. to finding it had a combined debt and deficit In addition, the report points to a lack of “A 10-year school district facilities plan of about $13.5 million. an internal audit function or a whistleblower (SDFP) is not prepared or provided to the Doyle’s report does not get into the nuts policy. board for approval,” the report says. continued on page A13… and bolts of how the money vanished from The board needs more regular financial