Auditors give Fairfield County clean opinion but flag repeat closeout adjustments

Grant Davis, a partner with Mauldin & Jenkins, told the Fairfield County Council the firm issued an unmodified opinion on the county’s fiscal year 2024 financial statements and two related reports, including a federal single-audit report that also received a clean opinion.

The auditor said the county’s general fund held roughly $20,000,000 in total assets at June 30, 2024, with about $7,800,000 in cash and cash equivalents and roughly $10,800,000 in receivables. Liabilities to outside parties were about $2,000,000, yielding a general fund balance of about $17.5 million — an increase of about $1.4 million from the prior year. Davis said the unassigned portion of fund balance provided about five-and-a-half months of operating coverage based on fiscal 2024 spending levels.

Davis said the county recorded positive variances against the adopted general fund budget: revenues collected were roughly in line with the $39 million budget and expenditures of about $35.7 million were below budget. He described those outcomes as “very positive” and said the fund balance level was healthy relative to common recommendations for more than three months of reserves.

On federal funds, the auditor said Fairfield County expended amounts that triggered a single-audit and that the largest federal programs audited included the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds and the Airport Improvement Program; those compliance audits carried unmodified opinions.

The auditors identified one repeat internal-control deficiency, titled “financial closeout and reporting,” involving adjusting entries made between the county’s submitted records and the audited financial statements. Davis said the amount of adjustments was materially lower than the prior year — from roughly $28.7 million in fiscal 2023 to about $10.5 million in fiscal 2024 across multiple funds — but he described it as a continued area for improvement. He recommended continued staff attention to timely, accurate closeout procedures.

Council members asked about debt and the county’s borrowing capacity. Davis pointed to the long-term obligations table in the audit, which included pension and other post‑employment benefit liabilities as large components; he said bonded indebtedness was a smaller portion (noting about $4 million in general obligation bonds and roughly $16.7 million in revenue bonds) and that Fairfield County appeared well within constitutional debt limits.

Administrator Michael Carpenter said the county has worked to improve audit timeliness and acknowledged the audit has been dated after calendar year-end for many years. Carpenter described the legal and operational reasons audits run late at many counties and said he is addressing internal processes so future audits and the budget calendar can be more timely.

The auditor and council members discussed roles across offices — finance, treasurer and administration — in producing audit-ready records and described staff turnover and evolving accounting standards as complicating factors. Davis encouraged reading management’s discussion and analysis in the audit report for more detail and offered to answer follow-up questions.

The presentation concluded with council thanks to the auditor and recognition from the administrator that while progress has been made, continued improvement is needed in closeout procedures.