Barbacane, Thornton & Co., the firm that has completed Lehighton Area School District’s annual financial audit since 2018-19, will get three more years after the board unanimously accepted a contract proposal Monday night.

Auditing services will cost Lehighton $38,500 for the 2021-22 school year, $40,500 for the 2022-23 school year and $42,400 for the 2023-24 school year. Barbacane’s fee for Annual Financial Report preparation is listed as $3,700 for 2022, $3,900 for 2023, and $4,100 for 2024.

Before the vote, board President Joy Beers suggested the district look for additional proposals.

Business Administrator Edward Rarick said he had put out a proposal and reached out to two companies, Pottsville-based Jones and Co., and Maillie LLP, the Montgomery County firm who completed Lehighton’s audits before Barbacane.

“Jones and Co. covers numerous districts including Panther Valley and Jim Thorpe,” Rarick said. “They were interested and then the day before the proposal was due, they gave me a call and withdrew their interest. We received no response from Maillie.”

If the district waited much longer to appoint an auditing firm, Rarick said, the likelihood of the 2021-22 audit being completed by the end of the calendar year would be greatly reduced.

Director Barbara Bowes backed Barbacane, noting that they found an issue with a National Education Foundation contract. Then Pa. Auditor General Eugene DePasquale investigated and it ended up costing the district over $3 million.

The district, DePasquale said, entered into a supposed “no-cost” contract to create Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) academies at the elementary, middle, and high schools.

“Barbacane found that when they did their first audit and they were instrumental in helping everyone understand it,” Bowes said. “That alone shows me they do a very in-depth audit. I think they’ve done a good job.”

When Lehighton initially contracted with Barbacane in October 2019, it agreed to pay the Delaware-based firm $36,000 to complete its 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 fiscal year audit. Maillie LLP had received over $40,000 each year.