County auditor issues clean opinion on FY24; general fund balance rises to about $17.5 million

Fairfield County officials received a clean (unmodified) opinion on the countys fiscal year 2024 financial statements and an overview of the countys fiscal position during the April 14 County Council meeting.

Grant Davis, a partner at the auditing firm Malden & Jenkins, told the council the general fund reported total assets of about $20 million at June 30, 2024, including roughly $7.8 million in cash and cash equivalents and about $10.8 million in receivables. Liabilities were roughly $2 million, producing a general fund balance of about $17.5 million, an increase of approximately $1.4 million from 2023. Davis said the unassigned portion of fund balance equates to about five and a half months of expenditures at the years spending level.

Davis said the general fund spent about $35.7 million in FY24 and that property taxes were the largest single revenue source at roughly $29 million. He also told the council the countys budget estimates were close to results: budgeted general fund revenues were "just under $39 million" and actual collections were also "just under $39 million," with a revenue variance of roughly $18,000 and expenditures about $950,000 under budget.

The auditors issued three reports included in the annual financial report: the financial-statement opinion (unmodified), a Yellow Book report on internal control and compliance, and a single-audit report for federal program compliance. The single-audit was triggered because the county expended more than the federal threshold; Davis said the county expended about $3.7 million in federal funds in FY24, the largest programs being the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds and the Airport Improvement Program. The single-audit opinion was also unmodified.

Davis reported one recurring internal-control deficiency on the Yellow Book report under the heading "financial closeout and reporting." For FY24 the auditors identified approximately $10.5 million of audit adjustments across multiple funds (down from about $28.7 million in FY23). Davis characterized the decline as a "significant improvement" but said the adjustments remain a finding because of the volume and nature of late adjustments needed to finalize the audit.

Council members asked about debt. Davis pointed the council to the long-term obligations schedule and said the subtotal of long-term obligations was about $70 million, with the largest components being the countys pension and other post-employment benefit liabilities. He said general obligation bonds were about $4 million and revenue bonds roughly $16.7 million and that, based on those figures, the county appeared to be well within constitutional debt limits.

County Administrator Michael Carpenter and several council members thanked the auditors and staff for the audit and discussed steps to improve timeliness. Davis noted statewide staffing turnover and evolving accounting standards as contributors to delayed audit timelines, and he said Fairfield Countys results were consistent with many other counties.

The audit presentation concluded with an offer from the auditors to answer further questions and with council appreciation for the report.