Auditors give Hurricane City a clean opinion, flag two state compliance findings

Hinton Burdick auditor Chad Atkinson told the Hurricane City Council that the firm issued an unmodified opinion on the city’s fiscal year 2024 financial statements, the highest level of assurance auditors can give.

Atkinson said the audit found no internal-control deficiencies for fiscal year 2024. He noted two state-compliance findings required to be reported to the council: (1) 2023‑001, a budgetary compliance finding because the building‑remodel fund exceeded its approved budget; and (2) 2024‑001, a fund‑balance finding indicating the general fund’s unassigned reserves were above the limit set by the state (described in the report as an over‑reserve).

Atkinson walked the council through fund-balance trends and enterprise funds. He reported the general fund’s change in fund balance was about $1.3 million; the unassigned general‑fund balance was approximately $7.1 million, representing about five months of reserves. He also highlighted large capital contributions to the water and electric enterprise funds—figures driven largely by donated infrastructure from developments—and noted the golf fund and municipal building authority were stable.

Atkinson pointed council members to the management’s discussion and analysis section of the financial statements for a concise executive summary and to the schedule and management responses that appear later in the packet for details on the two state findings. The council accepted the presentation as informational during the meeting.