Laramie receives unmodified audit opinion for fiscal 2024; staff unveils shorter community financial report

An external audit firm told the Laramie City Council work session that it issued an unmodified opinion on the City of Laramie's fiscal year 2024 financial statements, while also including an emphasis-of-matter paragraph linked to the city's recent enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation. City finance staff used the same meeting to introduce a new, shorter Community Financial Report that condenses the longer Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR).

An unmodified opinion is the highest standard in financial statement auditing and indicates the auditors obtained reasonable assurance that the statements were free of material misstatement. "We were able to issue an unmodified opinion," the auditor said during the presentation, noting that the firm had also issued a separate emphasis-of-matter paragraph "because of the ERP implementation" and related restatements.

The nut of the report: the audit produced no disagreements with management, no significant deficiencies and no material weaknesses were reported for fiscal 2024, and the city's federal-award compliance (single audit) also received an unmodified opinion.

Auditor findings and context The auditor described required supplemental information (RSI) and other ACFR components that are outside the auditor's opinion, and said the firm had "ticked and tied" those schedules to underlying records. The auditor told the council that nothing was withheld during the audit and that management made representations to the auditors on Dec. 19, 2024, the date the audit work was substantially completed.

The audit included the single-audit work required because the city expended more than the federal threshold for testing; the auditors reported an unmodified single-audit opinion. The auditor said the city spent about $4,000,000 from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (ARPA) on capital projects in the year and that testing disclosed no material compliance problems.

City staff: ACFR and a shorter Community Financial Report Director Wade (City of Laramie finance staff) walked councilors through the ACFR's purpose and structure and introduced a new, 17-page Community Financial Report (also called a Popular Annual Financial Report or PAFR) designed to make audited financial data easier for residents to use.

Wade said the ACFR remains the comprehensive, audited record (the ACFR is roughly 198 pages), but the Community Financial Report pulls the most relevant items into a readable, visual summary. "This report is prepared using audited GAAP-measured data," the director said, adding the Community Financial Report is intended to increase accessibility while maintaining a clear connection back to the full ACFR.

Selected financial highlights staff pulled into the Community Financial Report include: - Total government-wide revenue growth for the year of about $7.9 million (14% year-over-year), with roughly $2.9 million tied to specific-purpose tax receipts and about $6.6 million from unrestricted sales and use tax collections; staff noted only about $1 million of that sales-tax growth is ongoing. - Property and auto tax collections accounted for roughly $400,000 of the revenue increase. - Governmental activities expense changes included a $12.7 million reduction related to pension and OPEB liabilities and a net $1.4 million increase in personnel costs tied to compensation adjustments and reduced attrition. - Staff highlighted that the general fund showed a $2.5 million increase in direct distributions tied to legislative appropriations (not expected to continue) and about $1 million in higher investment income from a revised cash-management strategy.

Wade recommended councilors who want a compact entry point to the ACFR read management's discussion and analysis section (MD&A) and said staff will continue to refine the Community Financial Report based on feedback.

What this means going forward The audited opinion and the lack of material weaknesses give the council and the public an audited, favorable assessment of the city's FY2024 reporting. The emphasis-of-matter paragraph flags that accounting presentation changed because of the ERP implementation and that some restatements were corrected; it does not change the unmodified opinion.

Staff said the Community Financial Report will be revised annually and used alongside the full ACFR and other transparency tools the city is deploying.

Ending: officials invited questions and feedback Both the auditors and staff invited councilors and members of the public to review the full ACFR for technical detail and to send feedback on the Community Financial Report so staff can refine the shorter document in future years.