Hidalgo County receives clean audit; unassigned general‑fund balance about $83.7 million

Auditors issued an unmodified ("clean") opinion on Hidalgo County's financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2024, and reported no instances of noncompliance with federal or state grant rules that must be reported, the county's external auditor told the commissioners Tuesday.

The finding came during a presentation of the county's annual audit by the county's external audit team. The auditors told the Commissioners Court the county's unassigned fund balance in the general fund was $83,662,188 as of Dec. 31, 2024, which the auditors said equates to roughly 111 days of operating expenditures and falls within the Government Finance Officers Association's recommended range.

Why this matters: the unassigned fund balance is the most commonly used measure of a local government's short‑term fiscal cushion. A larger fund balance gives a county flexibility to respond to unexpected events such as extreme weather and cash‑flow timing issues.

County auditor and audit highlights Mr. Guerra, the external audit partner who presented the report, told the court the audit was conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and government auditing standards and was subject to the Uniform Guidance because the county expended federal grant funds in excess of threshold limits. "Our audit was also subject to the uniform guidance," he said, adding the auditors tested federal and state awards and reported no instances of reportable noncompliance.

The auditors noted two accounting standard changes implemented for 2024 that affected presentation: one addressing accounting for changes and error corrections and another addressing compensated‑absence liabilities. The report also included three proposed audit adjustments that management posted before issuance; auditors said the adjustments did not result in a material misstatement of the financial statements.

The audit team also noted the county's health insurance/internal proprietary fund, which had shown a deficit in prior years, is no longer in a deficit position as of Dec. 31, 2024. "Management has been working on addressing that deficit," the audit partner said, noting the fund is in the positive by a little more than $4 million.

Officials' response and next steps County Judge Richard Cortez asked auditors whether their tests had identified any wrongdoing; the auditor replied, "No. We did not," while noting audit procedures are performed on a test basis and auditors are not compliance lawyers.

The court voted to accept the audit report.