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Auditor’s office: March 2025 reports show higher revenues, lower expenditures after accounting change
Summary
Staff from the auditor’s office told county commissioners that March financial reports show a rise in several revenue lines and a decline in expenditures largely because the county is reporting health insurance differently under a new accounting system. A $10 million property sale drove a one-month spike in conveyance fees.
At a county commissioners meeting, auditor’s office staff reviewed March 2025 financial reports and said general fund revenues were higher while expenditures appeared lower after the county began processing health insurance on a different accounting schedule.
The auditor’s office presentation, delivered by Parker Halk and Vicky Grama, said the general fund shows a 13.85% increase in revenues so far this year and a roughly 14% decrease in expenditures compared with the same point last year. “The reports that we generally supply to you guys are showing a decrease in the general fund revenue and expenses, and that is due to the fact that we are processing our health insurance differently with the new accounting system than we have in the past,” Halk said.
Why it matters: the change alters year-over-year comparisons and helps explain swings in both revenue and expense lines that might otherwise prompt budget adjustments.
Halk identified specific drivers of the revenue increase: a $369,000 rise in real estate tax settlement receipts and a $190,000 increase in homestead rollback reimbursements that staff said was a timing difference (the county received the homestead payment in March this year but received it in April last year). Halk explained the homestead rollback briefly: when levies were voted before 2013 the state reimbursed homestead reductions; levies replaced after 2013 do not receive that state reimbursement.
One large, one-month item also lifted conveyance-fee revenue. Halk said conveyance fees spiked in March after a $10,000,000 sale of a nursing home in Bridal, producing $43,757.10 in conveyance fees for the general fund. “That one sale alone brought in more conveyance fees than all of last March,” Halk said. (Different pages of the packet showed slightly different percent-change figures for conveyance fees in the presenter’s account of the report; the presenter cited a 66% spike in one place and an increase of 78% on another page.)
Other items noted in the packet: recorder office activity rose (packet cited 17% more pages recorded and 5% more documents compared with March last year, with mortgages up), sales tax was cited as up about 9.4% compared with the same month last year, title fees were down 17%, and interest revenue was down roughly 3% year over year. Halk said casino tax receipts, which the county receives quarterly, were unchanged since January.
On expenditures, Halk told commissioners the apparent 14% reduction compared with last year was largely explained by two advances last year that had not yet occurred this year: a Port Authority advance of roughly $350,000 that was recorded at this point in the prior year and an airport advance the auditor expects to see this year of about $147,500. Together those two items account for roughly $494,000 of the apparent difference in expenditures.
Halk also reviewed fund balances and other indicators: general fund balance was presented as up 22%, covered balance up 15.8% and cash balance up 12% (the packet figures reflect reporting differences tied to the health insurance timing change). Health insurance premium payments to carriers were shown as up about 19% through March; Halk noted that could reflect both rate increases and enrollment changes.
The auditor’s office packet used a new reporting tool (referred to in the meeting as VIP analytics), which Halk said makes it easier to break down funds and department detail without manual spreadsheets. The presenter fielded questions about department-level line names and the airport’s cash position; staff said the airport’s fuel sales and related separate account are used only for fuel and fuel-system capital work. Halk noted the airport has a separate fuel account with about $165,000 in receipts and roughly $13,000–$16,000 on hand after payroll, and staff will send a reminder to the airport to request a budgeted advance the commissioners previously approved.
The presentation closed with staff and commissioners agreeing to watch trends but reporting no immediate adjustments were needed based on the March packet.
Ending: Commissioners did not take any new budget action at the meeting; staff said they would continue monitoring revenues and expenditures and bring any recommendations to the commission if conditions change.
