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County auditor reports clean opinion, flags fund balance and capital spending trends
Summary
Baker Tilly presented Dane County—inancial audit highlights, reporting an unmodified opinion on the fiscal year financial statements while noting a $19 million decline in general fund balance and a rise in unspent capital project bond proceeds.
John Raider, an auditor from Baker Tilly, told the Personnel & Finance Committee that the firm issued an unmodified ("clean") opinion on Dane County—inancial statements and found no material journal entries during the audit cycle. He said the county implemented recent Governmental Accounting Standards Board guidance (including GASB 101) without material effect on the statements.
Raider said the county—ontinues to prepare its financial reports under GAAP and that the management discussion and analysis (MD&A) and GFOA statistical schedules provide useful trend context. He summarized key metrics: general fund revenues of about $356 million and expenditures/transfers of about $376 million, which produced an overall decrease in general fund balance from $87 million to $67 million, a drop of about $19 million.
The auditor noted major items behind fund and fund-type changes: human services fund increased roughly $15.3 million (about 35%); opioid settlement receipts rose to about $4.8 million; capital projects showed $248 million in unspent bond proceeds (with $77 million from 2024 issuances and $125 million from 2023); and airport enterprise operations produced a larger surplus for the year, driven by higher charges for services and increased passenger facility charges. Baker Tilly also is conducting a single audit of federal and state awards and performed Wisconsin DHS-required procedures on Badger Prairie nursing home accounts.
Committee members focused questions on debt and liquidity. Raider and County staff explained that county GO debt rose but so did statutory debt capacity (driven by rising equalized valuation), that much of outstanding GO debt is tied to enterprise-backed projects (airport, landfill, jail), and that rapid amortization practices and an AAA rating helped maintain credit strength. The presentation described general fund liquidity measures (unassigned/assigned fund balance ratios) and noted the county—nded the year slightly above the policy minimum for unassigned balance.
The presentation and materials were informational; no formal committee action on the audit itself was recorded during the meeting. Members were directed to the posted financial statements and the MD&A for full schedules and ten-year statistical tables.
The committee thanked the auditor and county finance staff for the report and for work performed while the controller position transitioned.
