WINDSOR – Bertie County Schools will not enter a contract with Rives and Associates for auditing services.

The school district did, however, agree to a contract for supplemental auditing services during their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday evening.

Last week, the board discussed entering an audit contract with Rives and Associates, but it was later discovered an auditing contract with Anderson, Smith and Wike had been approved in January.

That contract, which calls for an audit of the 2009-10 financial statements, is already under way, according to information provided by the school district.

Upon exiting closed session, the board agreed to the supplemental contract with Rives. The contract, as approved, calls for several consulting activities to be done by Rives and Associates.

The services include reconciliation of the 2009-10 closeout for financial accounts, a fund balance analysis for the same year, developing a 2010-11 operating budget from all sources of funds, assisting in the search for a Finance Officer, reviewing the system of internal controls and analyzing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Acts funding and developing a plan in case funds are not approved for 2011-12.

Rives and Associates will also perform an efficiency study of all 2010-11 funding sources to maximize all resources available within statutory availability.

After reviewing the contract which was presented by Board Attorney Rod Malone, the board added only one other provision before adopting the document.

Board Chair Gloria Lee said the board had also requested training for the board.

“We said we wanted to be trained to read financial reports,” Lee said.

Malone suggested the board vote to approve the contract with that stipulation. Vice Chairman Alton Parker moved to approve the contract contingent on the addition of board training and it passed by a 4-0 vote. Board member Rickey Freeman was absent from the meeting.

Following the approval of the extra auditing services, Lee announced the board was continuing to work with Anderson, Smith and Wike for the auditing contract.

“We have in place already an auditing firm that will conduct our annual audit,” she said. “They have already started and done a considerable amount of work.”

Board member Emma Johnson asked if the audit contract would expire once the board received its annual review and Malone said that was the case.

The audit contract, which was executed with the signatures of former board chair Emma Johnson and Interim Finance Office Charlene Cobb on January 15, calls for the board to pay Anderson, Smith and Wike $22,500 plus “reasonable out of pocket costs” for the audit and an additional $3,000 for financial statements.