Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bradley County audit shows $17 million increase in net position; one finding on payroll reconciliations
Summary
At an annual audit meeting, Bradley County officials reviewed a state audit showing a $17 million rise in net position, a roughly $7.6 million reduction in long-term debt, maintenance of AA credit ratings and one repeat finding that payroll liability accounts were not fully reconciled to the general ledger.
Bradley County officials reviewed the county’s annual audit at the commission’s audit meeting, where the county’s financial statements for the year ended June 30 were presented as “fairly presented” and in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
The audit shows the county’s net position rose to $80,567,000, an increase of $17,000,000 from the prior year. Officials also reported a reduction in long-term debt of about $7,558,000 and an outstanding debt balance in the neighborhood of $59.7 million, most of which is for school-related borrowing. The county maintained its AA2 rating from Moody’s and a AA rating from Standard & Poor’s. The general fund’s unassigned fund balance was reported at $12,718,000, or about 27% of general fund expenditures — above the county’s 25% target.
Mayor Davis, who presented the audit summary, described the consolidated financial report (commonly called a CAFR) as a state-reviewed verification of the county’s books. “This year being you’re looking to see that they’re fairly presented in conformity with the GAAP,” Mayor Davis said. He characterized the overall result as “good, clean audit.”
The audit included one repeat finding: general fund payroll liability accounts had not been reconciled to payroll reports and the general ledger. According to the presentation, finance staff have been reconciling insurance reports to payroll records but had not completed the ledger reconciliation auditors expect. Mayor Davis said auditors will return in March or April to work with county staff to bring reconciliations closer to the auditors’ expectations.
Commissioner Victor Blake said the large increase in net position is “a good thing” and attributed it in part to one-time federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding, higher interest earnings and paying down principal on outstanding debt. “We paid down a little over $7,000,000,” Blake said, adding that much of the county’s remaining debt is related to education and that the county has reduced borrowing compared with a decade earlier.
Officials provided context on the volume of finance operations: three full-time and two part-time finance staff handle roughly 23,600 ledger transactions, 13,400 invoices, 6,800 warrants and 16,639 payroll checks and direct deposits in the audit year. Several commissioners praised the audit as “clean” while noting that auditors customarily include at least one item to address.
No formal vote on the audit summary is recorded in the transcript; the meeting proceeded after questions and discussion.
