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Auditor issues clean opinion on Rowan County FY25 finances; LGC concern about water fund operating loss
Summary
Audit manager presented a clean, unmodified FY25 audit opinion and highlighted revenue increases and strong fund-balance metrics; the Local Government Commission concern about a water fund operating loss will require a response within 60 days.
Audit manager Kelly Gooderham told commissioners the county’s fiscal year 2025 financial statements received a clean, unmodified opinion. Gooderham summarized the county’s general-fund results: total general-fund revenues of about $221.5 million and expenditures of roughly $190.3 million, with year-over-year increases in property tax collections and local option sales tax. She said the county’s available fund balance as defined by the Local Government Commission (LGC) was about $152 million and that key performance indicators are generally positive.
Gooderham said the LGC flagged the water fund operating loss as a performance concern (the fund’s operating position improved from a larger deficit but remained negative). She said the LGC requires a response and that staff should submit that response within 60 days. County staff noted ongoing work with Salisbury and internal efforts to address the Northern Water System and other capital and operational items.
Commissioners thanked the audit team for the presentation and authorized signing the letter to the LGC acknowledging the issue and describing the county’s planned response. The audit presentation included routine statistics on enterprise funds (airport and landfill) and highlighted the county’s stable property-tax valuation and collection performance.
The auditor provided slides and a data-input report used to generate the LGC performance indicators; staff will follow up on items the LGC identified.
