Tompkins County received an unmodified ("clean") audit opinion for its 2024 financial statements, auditors said at the Budget, Capital and Personnel Committee meeting on Aug. 14.

The county's external auditors from Ancero, led in the meeting by Conrad White, audit manager, told legislators the audit identified "no material weaknesses, no significant deficiencies in the control system, no noncompliance with laws and regulations" and that "we had no findings in this year's audit." The auditors also explained the county underwent a federal single audit because it spent more than $750,000 in federal funds.

The audit presentation said the county reported about $258 million in total revenues for 2024 and roughly $269 million in expenses, producing an excess of expenditures over revenues of about $18 million for the year. On a fund‑balance basis, the county's unassigned general‑fund balance decreased to approximately $44 million (from about $69 million the prior year) and total fund balances fell from about $81 million to $63 million.

Conrad White and the audit team noted several larger items behind the government‑wide figures: the county spent roughly $42.5 million on programs financed with federal dollars (including funds routed through state agencies) and slightly more than $16 million in state Department of Transportation funding; those programs were included in compliance testing. The auditors said they tested multiple federal programs in 2024, including the coronavirus program, federal transit funding and the TANF program, and reported no findings for those tests.

The presentation also highlighted accounting standard changes affecting the 2024 statements. Auditors said a GASB change on compensated absences changed how accrued paid time off is reported, increasing a government‑wide compensated‑absence liability in the restatement by about $800,000. The audit statement referenced GASB 68 (pension) and GASB 75 (OPEB) reporting: while the county's net investment in capital assets was large, actuarially determined liabilities increased the county's unrestricted net position into a deficit on the government‑wide statements. Auditors said the county's unrestricted deficit was about $43 million; excluding GASB 68 and 75 adjustments, the unrestricted position would have been roughly a $68 million surplus.

Daryl (Director of Finance) and auditors advised committee members to read the Management's Discussion and Analysis in the financial statements for more context and to note ongoing changes in accounting standards that may affect future presentations.

The committee took no formal vote on the audit presentation itself; the auditors said draft reports had a couple of loose ends but that they did not expect material changes to the numbers presented.