Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City auditor issues unmodified opinion; audit notes $7.7M in capital spending and strong cash reserves
Summary
The city’s auditor reported an unmodified opinion on Erlanger’s financial statements, no material weaknesses in controls, planned pension/OPEB adjustments and roughly $19.2 million in cash plus $4.3 million in investments, reflecting about 10 months of operating reserves despite $7.7 million in capital outlays this year.
John Chamberlain, a partner at Chamberlain Owen & Company, told the Erlanger City Council the firm issued an unmodified opinion on the city’s fiscal 2024 financial statements and found no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal controls. "We've given what's called an unmodified opinion," Chamberlain said during the council's Dec. 2 meeting.
Chamberlain highlighted several notable accounting adjustments and trends. He said the audit included planned adjustments related to pension and OPEB — a roughly $1,000,000 reduction to pension liabilities (net of deferrals) and a roughly $1,200,000 reduction to OPEB liabilities — and described a prior‑period fixed‑asset depreciation correction of about $446,000 resulting from migration of the city’s fixed assets into a tracking system.
On liquidity, Chamberlain said the city’s cash decreased by about $581,000 this year but that Erlanger remains in a strong position. He reported roughly $19.2 million in cash and about $4.3 million in investments — a total around $23.5 million on hand — which he characterized as roughly 10 months of operating expenditures, well above the city’s self‑imposed 30% fund‑balance target.
Chamberlain also noted about $7.7 million in capital asset improvements during the year, including work at the public works building, parks and equipment purchases, and said the city prudently recognized an opioid settlement receivable (the auditor cited the national opioid settlement and a receivable recorded in the financials). He told council the combination of capital investment and reserves was a positive sign of prudent financial management and commended finance director Kara Kramer and staff for preparing the financial statements used in the audit.
Mayor Jessica Fetti and council members thanked the finance team; Chamberlain said final PDFs of the audited materials would be provided soon.
What happens next: City staff will finalize the audit documents and circulate the final PDF to council. The auditor made no unplanned audit adjustments and provided a standard governance letter to the council.
