We asked and received on a very timely basis five years worth of financial statements from Lakeland Community College. The statements were prepared by Ciuni & Panichi.
Here is there Balance Sheet as of June 30, 2017.
LCC Balance Sheet 6-30-17

Please look at the figure listed under Non-Current Liabilities – Pensions.  Do you see the $97,645,117 listed as Pensions?   That means that in future years employees are owed $97,645,117 in Pensions.

Now, look at the figured listed under Net Position – Unrestricted.  You will see a negative ($69,812,328).  This indicates that they are “upside down”…that’s accounting lingo for an entity that does not have enough assets to cover their liabilities.  They are not in any short term cash crunch because they have enough cash and receivables to pay their current liabilities.

However, it raises the question if they have a HUGE unfunded liability, would they someday be looking for taxpayers to cover the shortfall.  We have sent an email to the accounting firm asking them this question: Are we to conclude that Lakeland Community College has a huge unfunded liability?

At today’s Commissioners’ meeting, Dan Troy was very vociferous in his objection to this (that happens a lot when I broach a subject), because he said that they did not agree with David Yost, the (Republican) Auditor of the State of Ohio, mandating that future pension liabilities be reported on the balance sheet since it is the obligation of the State pension and not the local entity.  He suggested that we reach out to Mr. Yost, so we did send him an email asking him about the unfunded liability.

We chose this opportunity to mention to Commissioner Troy that he may wish to review Note #10 on the Independent Auditor’s report.  It says the pensions are the responsibilities of the employer.  Here it is for you:

Note 10 Pensions

The other financial statement that is important is the Income Statement.  Here is the Income Statement for the twelve months ended June 30, 2017.   Please note that only ~28% of their annual revenue comes from operating revenue, the balance is State, Local and Federal taxes.

LCC Income Statement 6-30-17

When we get response from the independent auditor and the State Auditor, we will report back to you.

We are not finished asking Lakeland Community College questions.  We want to know their policies on educating illegal aliens, are they planning to build dormitories, and what are the long range goals for the College.

Categories: Education