Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Finance Audit topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lake Clarke Shores receives clean audit; town fund balance covers about seven months of expenses
Summary
Auditor Christine O'Ran presented a clean financial-statement opinion for fiscal year 2024 and reported the town's unassigned general-fund balance equals about seven months of expenditures, above common benchmarks.
The Town of Lake Clarke Shores received a clean audit opinion for fiscal year 2024, the town’s auditor told the council at its meeting.
Christine O'Ran, the audit partner who oversaw the financial-statement audit, reported that the town’s general-fund revenues increased about $552,000 from the prior year, driven by higher property values, increased interest income, fines and a $112,000 EPA grant. Expenditures rose about $365,000, largely because of purchases of police body cameras ($196,000) and increased debt-service reporting tied to long-term subscription IT contracts that accounting standards now treat like leases.
O'Ran said the town ended the year with a positive change in fund balance and about seven months of unassigned fund balance — above the Government Finance Officers Association’s minimum recommendation of three months and the speaker’s suggested five months benchmark for hurricane-prone Florida municipalities. She also reported that enterprise-fund revenues fell year over year after a prior-year CDBG grant ended, and that utility expenses increased due to higher sewer rates and a revised actuarial calculation of other post-employment benefits (OPEB).
The auditor said staff maintained appropriate internal controls, cleared the prior-year finding and had no new audit findings this year.
Council members asked clarifying questions about the reserve level and accounting treatment of subscription-based IT agreements. The council took no formal action; staff thanked the auditor for the presentation.
