Clear Creek County commissioners accept 2024 annual comprehensive financial report; auditor issues clean opinion

The Clear Creek County Board of County Commissioners on Sept. 30 accepted the countys 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) and directed County Budget Officer Rachel Harlow Schock to submit the document to the Colorado State Auditor.

The acceptance was made at a specially scheduled meeting so county staff could meet state and federal filing deadlines. Rachel Harlow Schock told the board that filing the ACFR and the countys required 2 CFR Part 200 cost allocation plan by the deadline was necessary to avoid potential withholding of state distributions, including the countys housing user tax.

External auditor Jim Henkel of Henkel and Company CPAs told the board the audit resulted in an unmodified (clean) opinion on the financial statements and a clean single-audit report for federal awards, including testing of the countys COVID-19 program. "Our audit opinion is unmodified, which in layman's terms is a clean opinion," Henkel said. He reported no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in the countys system of internal controls found during the audit.

At the same time, county staff and auditors described administrative and operational issues that delayed completion of the ACFR. Schock said the finance team asked for extensions because capital-asset accounting in the general ledger had not been fully maintained since 2022, which required additional work before the audit could be completed. Henkel and Schock recommended process changes to improve capital-asset tracking so the reconciliation can be done throughout the year rather than only at year end.

Key figures summarized during the presentation: the general funds fund balance decreased in 2024, with staff noting a $2 million reduction compared with 2023; road and bridge fund balance fell to $5,860,506 at year-end 2024 from $6,276,174 in 2023; the ambulance sales tax funds fund balance represented about 24% of 2024 expenses (versus 28% in 2023). The countys governmental capital assets reported for 2024 totaled $84,369,937.

Henkel said the audit tested internal controls over cash receipts, disbursements and payroll, reviewed supporting documentation and performed analytic procedures. He said the audit found no disagreements with management and no difficulties in obtaining requested documentation. "We did not find any significant deficiencies or material weaknesses in your system of internal controls," Henkel told the commissioners.

Commissioners asked clarifying questions about the timing of the clinic debt service (the final payment is scheduled for 2030) and about the difference between reported cash and unassigned fund balance. Henkel explained that fund-balance numbers are reported on a modified-accrual basis and therefore include receivables and payables; cash balances are a separate line item on the balance sheet.

After discussion, a motion to accept the 2024 ACFR and direct the county budget officer to submit the report to the state auditor passed with the board's recorded affirmative vote. The board also accepted the auditor's offer to provide a commissioner-level briefing on reading the different sets of government financial statements (government-wide full-accrual statements and governmental-funds modified-accrual statements) at a future meeting or work session.

Why this matters: acceptance and timely filing of the ACFR and single-audit materials are prerequisites for continued compliance with state and federal reporting requirements. County staff told the board that missing filings could put state distributions at risk.

The board took no other formal fiscal actions during this item.