Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Town and Country audit finds unmodified opinion; fund balance rose $3.7 million largely from ARPA
Summary
City officials reported an unmodified (clean) audit, a $3.7 million increase in governmental fund balance driven mainly by unspent ARPA funds, and a single-audit requirement after federal funding exceeded $750,000; auditors identified internal-control items staff said they have addressed.
The Town and Country Board of Aldermen heard the city’s annual audit on July 8, when the finance director reported the city received an unmodified (clean) opinion from CliftonLarsonAllen LLP.
The finance director said the management discussion and analysis shows a $3,700,000 increase in fund balance for governmental funds from the prior year, and she attributed almost all of that increase to unused American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that remain on the revenue side until spent. “Almost all of that is the ARPA money in the general fund portion,” the finance director said.
Because the city’s ARPA-related spending exceeded $750,000 in the audit year, the audit triggered a single-audit review, the finance director said, which expanded auditors’ procedures beyond the standard annual audit. She said the audit produced a management letter with internal-control observations and recommendations, and staff are already taking corrective steps.
Among items the auditors flagged were occasional missing receipt numbers in the accounting software and an accounts-payable invoice posted to the wrong fiscal year. The finance director described monthly reconciliation procedures she performs to catch such issues and said she will continue and strengthen those checks. “We will get that corrected in an attachment to your Friday update prior to the meeting,” she said when describing follow-up reporting to the board.
The finance director also told the board that the city continues to submit its comprehensive annual financial report to the Government Finance Officers Association; the city has received the GFOA certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting for about eight years.
Why it matters: A clean audit indicates auditors found no material misstatements in the city’s financial statements, while the single-audit requirement reflects the presence of federal funds that carry additional compliance obligations. The management-letter items are procedural and, by staff account, are being addressed through monthly reconciliations and improved reporting to the board.
The board did not take formal policy action during the audit presentation; staff said they will continue to report updates and will include more detailed backup on credit-card and receipt activity in the Friday packet.
