The City of Saginaw received the Government Finance Officers Association certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, and auditors issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the city’s financial statements.

Jamie Rivett, the audit partner who presented the report, said, “the city was issued an unmodified opinion, which is the highest level of assurance.” That opinion means auditors found no material modifications were necessary to the financial statements presented by management.

The report showed general fund revenue of a little over $50,000,000. Rivett said income taxes accounted for about 34% of that total and were up roughly $650,000 from the prior year. She stressed that most of the year-over-year revenue decline—about $18,000,000—stemmed from a one-time change in intergovernmental receipts: the city received a very large pension-related grant in the prior year (about $22,600,000) versus roughly $4,000,000 in the current year, producing a net-zero effect on fund balance because related expenditures correspondingly changed.

On the expenditure side, Rivett reported general fund spending of a little over $50,000,000. Public safety made up the largest share—about $30,000,000, or roughly 59%—with fire spending near $10,800,000 and police about $19,300,000. Rivett also noted transfers out to the capital improvement fund were substantially higher in the prior year than in the year under audit.

Unidentified Speaker who opened the item noted, “This marks the sixteenth consecutive year the city has received this recognition,” and commended the Department of Fiscal Services for the work. That speaker also recounted earlier challenges in the mid-2000s when audits and bank reconciliations were delayed due to turnover in accounting staff; the speaker credited the city’s contract with Plante Moran with helping to put the department back on track.

Rivett said auditors identified one prior-period adjustment related to capital assets and engineering fees that had been omitted from government-wide statements amid a large volume of projects; that adjustment was corrected in the financial statements. She also reported no significant deficiencies in internal control identified during the audit.

Rivett concluded by thanking city staff for their cooperation in completing the audit on an accelerated schedule. The presentation did not record any formal motions or votes on audit acceptance in the transcript provided.