Auditor gives Brownsville a clean opinion; council accepts annual audit

Brownsville's independent auditors told the City Council they issued an unmodified opinion — commonly called a clean audit — for the most recent fiscal year, and the council accepted the audit report.

Matt, a partner with audit firm ATA, presented highlights including a clean single-audit on more than $750,000 in federal expenditures, $1,670,000 in federal grant expenditures and $1,210,000 in state grant expenditures. He told the council, “it is an unmodified opinion, which means it's a clean audit opinion. We believe the numbers are free of any material misstatement, or any evidence of fraud.”

The auditor highlighted that general-fund revenues exceeded budget by about $483,000, sale-of-land proceeds exceeded budget by $1,460,000 and other grant revenues exceeded budget by $617,000. Expenditures were under budget overall by about $1,190,000; Mercer Road project expenditures were under budget by approximately $877,000, and site development grants were under budget by about $1,720,000, which the auditor attributed primarily to timing of projects.

The report noted an unassigned general-fund balance of about $5,170,000 and described a midyear transfer of the city's supplemental pension plan funds to a trust identified in the report as TRGT. The auditor also said the state pension plan reported strong investment income for the prior year, which affected the city's net pension liability. Two nonmajor findings were disclosed: a solid-waste fund was over budget by $79,000 due to an accounts-payable timing entry, and a data-collection form timing issue that the auditor said would be corrected going forward.

Council members asked clarifying questions about grant timing and budgets; the auditor and staff explained that grant revenues can arrive after budgeting and that reimbursements and project timing affect line items. The council accepted the audit as presented.