Middlesex County accepts annual audit, auditor issues unmodified opinion

The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors accepted the county's annual audit after a presentation by Jay, partner in charge at Robinson, Farmer & Cox. The auditor said the firm was issuing "an unmodified opinion" on the financial statements, meaning the statements may be relied upon as materially correct.

Jay told the board that a new Governmental Accounting Standards Board standard (GASB 101) required a restatement of beginning balances tied to compensated absences, reducing the beginning net position by about $440,000 for county government activities and almost $2,000,000 for the school board. He said the county's fund balance and cash positions improved over the prior year and that total county revenues increased largely because of grant receipts, including an unbudgeted Port Authority grant of about $2 million.

The auditor also reviewed long-term debt schedules and noted the county has roughly $14.4 million in long-term debt and the school board about $6.3 million, with debt service schedules extending into the 2050s. On compliance, Jay said the OMB compliance report arrived late and could not be incorporated into the printed audit packet, but he told the board he had no federal-program findings to report from the work completed to date. "We don't have any findings for the federal programs that we audited," he said.

Board members asked for additional explanation of specific schedules and noted they would welcome earlier distribution of the materials next year to give members more time to review. The board voted unanimously to accept the audit and authorized the auditor to follow up with additional detail as requested.

The board's vote to accept the audit was recorded by roll call and passed with all members voting yes. The auditor offered to provide phone or in-person follow-up and committed to distributing the omitted OMB compliance memo when available.