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County auditors report clean FY2025 opinion; general fund dips but remains healthy
Summary
CLA told the Board of Supervisors its draft fiscal 2025 audit will carry an unmodified (clean) opinion, reporting no material weaknesses and few required adjustments; the general fund fell about $3.2 million but remains above recommended reserves.
Doug Holst, principal with accounting firm CLA, told the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 2 that CLA expects to issue an unmodified ("clean") opinion on the county's fiscal 2025 financial statements. "We will be issuing what's called an unmodified opinion. It's a clean opinion," Holst said during the presentation.
Holst said the audit engagement is essentially complete — "98, 99%" — and that auditors found no material weaknesses or required material audit adjustments, a relatively uncommon outcome. He highlighted several year-to-year movements in fund balances: the county's general fund balance was down about $3.2 million for the year, rural services rose roughly $600,000 and secondary roads increased about $500,000. The consolidated governmental funds rose about $3.6 million (roughly a 4% increase) when nonmajor funds are included.
Holst also reviewed capital and debt figures: the county issued approximately $5 million in bonds in 2025 (much of which remained unspent at year end), governmental net book value of capital assets remained about $136 million after depreciation, and general obligation bonds outstanding decreased by about $2.9 million for the year. He said certain one-time or restricted expenditures — including geosecurity and Axon body camera purchases — accounted for a notable portion of the general fund decline. "I think a couple of the bigger expenditures that have to be reported were for the geosecurity system and the Axon body cameras — about $1,500,000 of the expenditures," Holst said.
On federal grant compliance, auditors reported total federal expenditures for the year near $210.2 million and State and Local Fiscal Recovery (ARPA) fund spending near $8.8 million; testing of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) expenditures and other grant compliance produced no findings. Holst closed by thanking county staff for preparing materials and noted the final audit deliverable is expected in short order: his team aims to complete quality review and issue the final report before the end of the month.
The board did not take formal action on the draft report at the meeting; staff indicated the final audit package and formal opinion will be submitted to the board when the audit is complete.
