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Bay County receives clean 2024 audit; single-audit finds one corrected ARPA reporting error
Summary
Auditors told the Bay County Board of Commissioners on July 15 that the county’s 2024 financial statements earned an unmodified (clean) opinion; the single-audit review of federal funds found one ARPA quarterly-reporting error that was later corrected and a recommendation to tighten journal-entry review controls.
The Bay County Board of Commissioners on July 15 received the county’s 2024 audited financial statements and related single-audit report, Raymond Robson auditor Doug Dieter told the board.
Dieter said the auditors issued an “unmodified opinion,” the highest level of assurance, meaning the county’s financial statements were “fairly presented in accordance with accounting principles.” He added that the result is consistent with past years.
The audit presentation included summaries of the general fund and fiduciary plans. Dieter said the county’s general-fund total assets were $30,556,000 at Dec. 31, 2024, with roughly $20,600,000 in cash and investments. He said total fund balance was $23,500,000, including $11,600,000 in unassigned funds available to support the 2025 budget.
On retirement plans, Dieter reported the pension plan had a total pension liability of about $292,000,000 (based on the 12/31/2023 actuarial valuation) and a plan net position of roughly $333,000,000, leaving the plan overfunded by about $41,000,000 (about 114 percent funded). He said the county’s retiree health-care trust (OPEB) had a net OPEB liability of about $6,058,000, with plan net position near $67,600,000 against an actuarial liability of $73,727,000 (about 92 percent funded).
Dieter said the auditors performed a federally required single audit because the county expended more than $750,000 in federal awards; the county’s federal expenditures were $6,445,000 in 2024. The auditors tested two major programs—the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) coronavirus state and local recovery funds and the federal child-support enforcement (Title IV-D) program—and issued an unmodified opinion on compliance for those programs.
The single-audit work identified one reporting error in an ARPA quarterly expenditure report; Dieter said the error was corrected on a subsequent report. He also recommended a stronger internal-control sign-off for journal entries so a second reviewer verifies entries before posting; the auditors noted the recommendation stemmed in part from the county library’s finance function rather than the central finance office.
Dieter also noted new and emerging accounting standards to watch—GASB statements related to risk disclosures and capital-asset reporting—and said the county implemented GASB guidance this year for accrued sick and vacation liabilities.
Commissioners thanked county finance staff for the audit work and accepted the audit report by motion; the board voted in favor and the motion carried.
