Williamsport finance committee: auditors give city unmodified FY2023 opinion; parking authority remains behind

Williamsport's Finance Committee on Sept. 30 heard presentation of the city's fiscal year 2023 audit, in which independent auditors reported an unmodified opinion for the city's primary government but an adverse opinion for the parking authority component unit, officials said.

The audit presentation, led by representatives of audit firm Zelenkowski & Axelrod, delivered the key finding up front. "We are pleased to be able to present an unmodified opinion over your primary government," Kim Stank, a representative of Zelenkowski & Axelrod, told the committee. Stank and a colleague reviewed the government-wide and fund financial statements with committee members and city finance staff.

The audit matters because an unmodified opinion signals the auditors found the city's financial statements for the primary government to be presented fairly. However, the parking authority's overdue audits produced an adverse opinion for that discretely presented component unit, and auditors flagged the reporting-entity issue as a material weakness in the single audit, Stank said.

"Because of the adverse opinion," Stank said, the firm "had to issue a finding," but she emphasized the adverse opinion was limited to the parking authority and not the city's primary government.

Jamie Livermore, from the city's finance office, told the…