Winchester commissioners accept FY2024 audit; auditor warns of tightening budget

Winchester — The City Commission voted to accept the city's fiscal year 2024 audit after a presentation by Tom Sparks of Summers, McCreery & Sparks, who said the audit gave a clean opinion but flagged a tightening budget.

The auditor told commissioners the independent report "in our opinion, the financial statements referred above present fairly," language he explained denotes a clean audit with no findings of fraud or conditions warranting an adverse opinion. He urged closer month-to-month budget monitoring as new revenues are phased in.

Sparks highlighted several figures from the audit: cash and cash equivalents fell from nearly $11 million to about $5.4 million, and the unassigned fund balance decreased from roughly $7.3 million to $5.1 million. Revenues rose overall, the auditor said, by nearly $22 million year over…