El Paso County reports clean 2024 audit; auditors find no federal grant findings

The El Paso County Board of County Commissioners heard a presentation June 24 showing the county received an unmodified, or "clean," opinion on its 2024 financial statements and no findings in the federal single-audit testing.

Nikki Simmons, El Paso County chief financial officer, told the board the audit reflects work across county departments and that "we have a completely clean audit. There are no adjustments to it, and no findings on our federal, grant funding." Ted Williamson, a partner at RubinBrown, the outside auditors, told commissioners the firm "did issue an unmodified or clean opinion on your financial statements." Williamson said RubinBrown did not identify material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal controls during the audit.

Why this matters: an unmodified opinion indicates the auditors concluded the county's financial statements are presented fairly under generally accepted accounting principles for governments. The single audit examines compliance with federal requirements for major grant programs; RubinBrown tested five programs in 2024 and reported no instances of noncompliance that rose to the level of a finding.

Key details: Williamson said the county expended $129,800,000 in federal awards in 2024. RubinBrown's single-audit testing focused on five programs selected by federal threshold and risk criteria: American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, workforce innovation funding, child support enforcement, child care and development funds, and adoption assistance. Williamson told the board the single-audit results and the county's annual comprehensive financial report will be posted to the federal clearinghouse and become publicly available.

County reaction: Commissioners thanked county finance staff and the auditors for work that produced the clean report. Commissioner comments praised the finance division's yearlong effort; Vice Chair Holly Williams and others said they were "very proud" of the clean audit and thanked staff for being "good stewards of taxpayers' dollars."

Background and next steps: No formal action was required; the item was presented under department and committee reports (nonaction). The county will publish the audited financial statements and single-audit report on the federal clearinghouse portal as RubinBrown described.

The auditors said they conducted the financial statement audit under Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) principles and followed auditing standards of the AICPA and Government Accountability Office for single-audit work.