County audit: 2023 shows clean opinion; funds and liabilities stable

Steve Palmer, partner at Hinton Burdick, presented the county’s 2023 financial audit to the commission and said the county received an “unmodified or a clean opinion” on its financial statements. Palmer reported no reportable findings on internal control over financial reporting or on state compliance tests and said federal single-audit sampling of selected grants produced no findings.

Palmer walked commissioners through fund‑by‑fund trends: the general fund’s fund balance and cash have been stable over the past five years; the assessing-and-collecting fund displayed a one-time decrease linked to the construction of the county building; the travel‑board fund and recreation fund showed relatively stable revenues and expenditures; and the capital projects fund reflected a spike in cash when other funds transferred money for major construction projects, with spending tapering as projects completed.

On long-term liabilities, Palmer said bonds and notes payable decreased as the county paid down debt, including debt tied to the convention center. He noted the net pension liability is driven largely by market volatility and comes from state-procured actuarial numbers.

Palmer said state and federal financial reports have been submitted and are publicly available on the county and state websites. The county’s finance team was commended for cooperation in the audit process; no formal action was requested beyond acceptance of the report.

Commissioners thanked audit staff and finance team members for their work. The audit’s clean findings and availability of the statements on public websites were emphasized as evidence of fiscal transparency.