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Independent audit clean; Center Tax Agency reports $92M+ EIT collections and refunds to members
Summary
Auditor Meyer, Duessel & Associates issued an unmodified opinion on the Borough's 2024 financial statements and single-audit compliance; the Center Tax Agency reported roughly $92 million in earned-income-tax collections and a 1.44% cost-to-collect ratio.
The Borough's independent auditor told State College Borough Council on May 12 that the 2024 financial statements will receive an unmodified ("clean") opinion and that the single-audit procedures produced no findings.
Dustin Starr of Meyer, Dusailly (presented as Meyer Dusall in the transcript) summarized the audit package, explaining that the borough is subject to single‑audit requirements when federal awards exceed $750,000. He said auditors found no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses, no disagreements with management and no reportable internal-control deficiencies for 2024.
"We are prepared to issue a unmodified audit opinion," Starr said.
The auditor described fund‑balance and other highlights: the borough reported a general-fund balance of about $21,200,000 with $16,200,000 unassigned; assigned capital‑project balances and restricted housing-program funds were also reported in the financial statements. Starr noted the borough has two pension plans with a combined recorded actuarial liability of roughly $7,000,000.
Center Tax Agency report
Jackie Fuge, Tax Services Director for the Center Tax Agency (the borough’s countywide earned‑income‑tax collector under Act 32), presented the agency’s 2024 results. She said the agency collected slightly over $92,000,000 in EIT and distributed those funds to members and other tax-collection districts after refunds.
Fuge said employer withholdings represent the majority of collections (about $73,300,000) and that the agency maintains roughly 6,500 registered employers. Individual payments and declaration payments together contributed the remainder; delinquent collections totaled about $1.9 million. The agency’s actual cost to collect came in at 1.44%, and the agency refunded $679,974 to member jurisdictions at year end.
Why it matters: The clean audit and the tax-collection results together indicate the borough’s accounting and collection systems met applicable standards for 2024 and that the Center Tax Agency returned excess commissions to its members. Council had no substantive objections during the Q&A; Portney deferred pension-specific questions to a later agenda item.
Ending
Starr said the draft audit will be posted for public review after outstanding signature documents are received; Fuge closed by noting continued efforts to move taxpayers and employers to electronic reporting and by describing continued audit work that identifies taxpayers who did not file EIT returns.
