County auditors told the Pratt County Commission they issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the county’s financial statements and completed the limited procedures required for the county’s remaining ARPA/CSLFRF (COVID relief) funds.

An auditor said the county met the two tests used for the final ARPA/CSLFRF review — that expenditures were allowable costs and allowable activities — and that the report was uploaded to the Treasury’s reporting site (federalreporting/Fact.gov). The auditor added the county did not meet the single-audit threshold and therefore underwent the simplified procedures required for smaller recipients.

On the financial statements, the auditor pointed commissioners to the government-wide figures on page 4 of the audit and noted the county began the year with roughly $13.54 million in government cash and ended the year with about $15.00 million. The auditor also noted the total reporting entity (which includes the county hospital board) reflected larger receipts and payments and that about $21 million of cash on hand belongs to other taxing entities (collections for schools, cities and townships) and is backed out of county totals.

The report’s notes and footnotes provide details on interfund transfers, the auditor said, including transfers from election, noxious weed and health funds into special equipment and a transfer of ARPA funds back to the general fund to cover payroll. The auditor pointed to the debt schedule and said the county will retire a 2011 general obligation bond with a roughly $130,000 principal payment due in 2025.

The auditor also told the commission that, overall, the county was under budget by about $6 million across funds — largely because capital improvement appropriations were budgeted but not spent — and that staff had closed and cleaned up several dormant funds.

No formal commission action was required to accept the audit at that meeting; the presentation was an informational report to the commission.