TUPPER LAKE — Tupper Lake Central School District Business Administrator Dan Bower is now working for the Franklin-Essex-Hamilton Board of Cooperative Educational Services, but will continue his work at TLCSD through BOCES as part of the district’s response to a state audit of its finance department.

The state Comptroller’s Office found that records in the district were often completed late, and Bower said this is because of the business office’s small size. TLCSD has historically spent low on its financial operations to save money.

To follow the state’s recommendations, the district will contract over half of its business office work to BOCES, and Bower was traded as part of that agreement.

TLCSD Superintendent Russ Bartlett said they essentially sold Bower to BOCES. Bower said this is like an athlete having their contract bought by another team.

He’ll now work with other districts, too, but 80% of his time will be spent on Tupper Lake.

Before, three or four people would work in the financial office working in treasury, accounts payable, payroll and purchasing. Bower said this was “not enough” because they all also had other roles, too.

By contracting with BOCES, the district will not need to pay for benefits for the people doing these jobs. BOCES will do that.

Bower said in the past year, BOCES changed its rules to now allow districts to purchase services a la carte instead of as a whole.

The district is purchasing a 60% payroll employee, a 60% treasurer and an 80% business office manager. These percentages mean the people in those positions will work for several districts through BOCES, and spend 60% or 80% of their time on TLCSD matters.

Bartlett said adding these all up comes out to 200%, or the equivalent of two full-time employees.

He said this option has the added benefit of generating income in the future through state aid for shared services. Bower said that for every dollar it spends on BOCES services, it gets $0.41 back in state aid the next year, a return rate of 41%.

Bower said TLCSD has contracted with BOCES for payroll services since February and accounting since March.

Bartlett said there have been a few “glitches” in the plan so far. When the payroll employee is not in the same building as everyone else and is not dedicated to the one district, questions and answers can take more time. But Bartlett said these are “minor inconveniences” in a plan that is overall beneficial.

Bower said the district is committing to complying with its existing policy of reporting financial reports to the board on time. The district is adding policies to make sure those reports come in on time.

The district is also purchasing accounting software to “replace separate spreadsheets and other assorted documents.”