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Aransas County accepts 2024 annual financial report; auditors flag two repeat material weaknesses
Summary
Crow LLP delivered an unmodified (clean) audit opinion for Aransas County’s financial statements for year ended Dec. 31, 2024. The auditors reported two repeat material weaknesses in internal control over monthly close procedures and use of restricted funds; the county said policies were adopted in December 2024 and will implement responses.
The Aransas County Commissioners Court accepted the county’s annual financial report for the year ended Dec. 31, 2024, as presented by Crow LLP and authorized filing of the audited financial statements.
Michelle Blackstock, audit partner with Crow LLP, presented the audit results and said the firm issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements and an unmodified report for the single-audit of federal awards. "We have provided our audit opinion for the audit of the financial statements. It's considered an unmodified opinion, which means that it is a clean opinion," Blackstock told the court.
Blackstock said auditors identified two continuing material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting. One weakness concerned the monthly closing process: auditors recommended establishing formal month-end closing procedures, reconciliations of subsidiary ledgers, and management review. The other related to restricted funds: auditors noted deficit cash balances in the grants/projects fund and the downtown Anchor Courthouse fund and recommended the county reimburse the Waterway Restoration Fund as funds become available and ensure approval procedures are in place for restricted-fund use.
The auditors also called out three identified (but judged immaterial) misstatements that were not corrected in the statements: about $373,000 overstated in general fund tax revenue related to optional county sales tax and health-care sales tax; a $137,000 airport fund lease that should have been included in the prior year; and about $34,000 related to a pension deferred outflow tied to a change in allocation percentage.
Blackstock described procedures used to test risks, including journal-entry testing and reliance on outside specialists for pension actuarial estimates. She told the court the county expended $28,100,000 of federal grant awards in 2024 and that auditors tested three major federal programs; the largest was approximately $20,800,000 under HUD Community Development Block Grants.
County staff responded that the two material weaknesses were addressed with policies adopted in December 2024 but that auditors were required to report them in the 2024 audit because the policies were implemented at year-end. A county staff member also confirmed that the county uses short-term internal loans between funds and reverses them when other funds become available, which explains the temporary deficit balances seen in some restricted funds.
A commissioner asked whether compensated-absence balances reflected sick and vacation leave; auditors confirmed they did. The court also referenced a $6,000,000 tax note that will help offset some future costs and the potential for FEMA reimbursement of approximately $4,000,000 for a project if insurance funds are not available when the project closes.
The court voted to accept the audited financial report; commissioners recorded "aye" votes and the motion passed.
The auditors said they aim to keep the same engagement team and to issue next year’s audit earlier, targeting a June issuance with a client service plan to be provided to the county judge.
