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External auditor presents unmodified opinion on Hastings fiscal 2024 audit; highlights reserves, capital spending and utility trends
Summary
An external auditor told the Hastings City Council the fiscal year 2024 audit received an unmodified opinion, detailed reserves and capital investments, and identified the electric utility's recent operating loss as an item to watch.
An external auditor presented the City of Hastings financial audit for the year ending Sept. 30, 2024, to the City Council and reported an unmodified (clean) opinion. The auditor summarized benchmarking ratios, five-year trends and comparisons with peer Nebraska cities.
The auditor (identified in the transcript as Marcy) said the audit opinion “is an unmodified opinion,” and walked the council through a two-page benchmarking spreadsheet comparing Hastings to similar-sized Nebraska cities. She said Hastings’ unrestricted net assets declined this year because the city invested unrestricted dollars into capital projects, and that governmental unrestricted reserves remain stronger than typical peers.
Key figures cited by the auditor: - Auditor-recommended governmental cash reserve target: about $6,800,000; actual governmental cash reserves reported around $18,000,000. - Utility-side recommended reserves estimate: about $84,000,000; the audit noted approximately $48,000,000 sitting in construction in progress, which the auditor said should be considered when assessing available utility reserves. - Outstanding governmental debt compared to valuation: about 0.2% (classified as excellent capacity to service governmental debt). - The electric fund showed an operating loss for the year; the auditor noted this could result from higher expenses or insufficient revenues and recommended either reducing expenses or raising rates if the trend continues. - The auditor noted the utility funds invested roughly $35–36 million in facilities during the year.
On federal compliance, the auditor said the city was subject to a federal single audit because it spent more than $750,000 in federal awards; the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (CSLFRF) was tested (about $1.8 million spent) and the city passed the single-audit testing without findings.
Council members asked questions about sales tax performance relative to peers, debt reduction and which peer cities were used in benchmarking; the auditor said the peer group included cities such as Norfolk, Columbus and Fremont. On sales tax per capita, she reported the peer average at about $526 per person while Hastings runs substantially lower.
The auditor paused for additional council questions and pointed members to several pages of the bound audit (footnotes, cash and investment schedules, CRA loan listings, capital-asset additions and contractual commitments). She noted about $15.5 million in contractual commitments at year-end and called attention to debt-service schedules on pages detailing principal and interest requirements over the coming years.
The presentation closed with an invitation for additional questions and staff follow-up on any items the council wanted expanded.
