Freestone County auditor issues clean opinion for year ending Sept. 30, 2024; net position rises about $4.2 million

An auditor reported a clean opinion on Freestone County's financial statements for the year ended Sept. 30, 2024, saying the reports "present fairly in all material respects the financial position and changes in financial position" for the year.

The auditor reported a government-wide net position of $19,763,982 for the year ended Sept. 30, 2024, an increase of almost $4.2 million from the prior year. The presenter explained that the government-wide statements are prepared on the full-accrual method and that "net position is similar to fund balance" on the government-wide statements.

The auditor said county capital assets, net of depreciation, totaled about $7.1 million and that long-term liabilities were approximately $2.9 million. Capital asset additions during the year were about $1.8 million, spread across vehicles, machinery and equipment, software and building improvements, some of which remain in progress. The county recorded principal payments on debt of $141,000 and added right-to-use lease assets of $46,000 and technology/software lease arrangements of $293,000; the presenter said those two items are now recorded as debt under recent accounting standards.

At the fund level, the auditor told the commissioners the general fund closed with a fund balance of about $12.3 million, and that the general fund actually increased by roughly $11.0 million during the year (the presenter noted timing and presentation differences related to prior-year items and budget reporting). The auditor said general fund revenues exceeded budget by roughly $495,000, driven largely by higher interest income, and that actual expenditures were about $1.0 million less than final budgeted expenditures, primarily because of lower capital and dispatch spending.

Road-and-bridge fund balances were reported for precincts 1–4 at approximately $523,000, $326,000, $214,000 and $619,000, respectively, with the presenter noting year-over-year increases in each precinct's fund balance (precinct increases of roughly $152,000, $77,000, $29,000 and $199,000 were reported). The auditor said revenues varied by precinct because of differences in interest income, charges for services, property taxes and intergovernmental revenue; expenditures were generally lower than budget in each precinct because some carryover projects were not spent.

The transcript records the auditor's presentation and numbers but does not show a subsequent, explicit motion or recorded vote accepting the audit report during the same meeting. The statements and figures above reflect the auditor's oral presentation as recorded in the meeting transcript.