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Auditor gives Edmond ‘clean’ opinion; consultant flags post‑COVID adjustment in city finances
Summary
External auditors issued an unmodified (clean) opinion for the city’s June 30, 2024 financial statements. Independent consultant Crawford & Associates gave Edmond a 6.9 ‘performer’ score and warned the city is coming off a post‑COVID revenue high but retains strong debt capacity.
External auditors presented a clean opinion on the City of Edmond’s comprehensive annual financial report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, and an outside consultant summarized the city’s overall financial “performer” score as lower than recent years but still satisfactory.
Andy Cromer, a certified public accountant with HSPG, told the council the audit opinion was unmodified and that the city’s internal controls and compliance testing yielded no material weaknesses. Cromer noted a single comment the auditors discussed with council: the tax increment financing (TIF) fund had a negative fund balance of about $1 million at June 30, 2024. He said the shortfall reflects timing — future TIF revenues are expected to repay loans made to other city funds — but flagged the balance so the council can monitor it.
Frank Crawford of Crawford & Associates presented the city’s financial “performer” score for the same fiscal year. “If someone were to come to you and say, you know, how are we doing as a city from a financial standpoint?” Crawford said, “you can answer that with this model, on a scale of 0 to 10.” He reported an overall score of 6.9 for fiscal 2024, explained the drop from Edmond’s historical upper‑sevens was largely driven by stepping off a COVID‑era revenue high and the one‑time use of federal grant funds that had temporarily bolstered reserves.
Crawford said Edmond’s performance score remains solid (8.4 on the consultant’s sub‑measure) and its sustainability metrics are strong in part because the city carries relatively little general‑obligation debt. Edmond’s debt‑service coverage for enterprise obligations remains high — 7.76 times in the consultant’s analysis — a strong indicator of the city’s capacity to support revenue‑backed debt.
Council accepted the audit report and single‑audit compliance report for federal grants. Staff and auditors noted some accounting estimates embedded in the financial statements — pensions, self‑insured liabilities and allowance for uncollectible receivables — that will continue to be monitored in future audits.
Council members asked about reserve levels and whether the city is practicing fiscal discipline as it exits the pandemic revenue peak. City staff said they have been taking steps to rebuild fund balances and are watching sales and use tax receipts as the main revenue driver.
