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Auditors give Portage County a clean opinion; new GASB rule raises compensated-absences liability by $3.5 million
Summary
LarsonAllen auditor Amber Daniel told the Portage County Finance Committee that the 2024 financial statements received a clean opinion but noted a GASB 101 change increased the county’s compensated-absences liability by about $3.5 million (roughly $2.8M governmental; $720K enterprise). Two single-audit findings were also reported.
Amber Daniel, the auditor from LarsonAllen, presented the county’s 2024 audited financial statements and said the statements "present fairly" and that "in layman's terms this is a clean audit opinion." The independent auditors' report was distributed to the committee and summarized for members.
Daniel told the committee the new Governmental Accounting Standards Board guidance (GASB 101) required the county to re-evaluate compensated-absences accruals and resulted in an approximate $3,500,000 increase in the reported liability for compensated absences. She said roughly $2,800,000 of that adjustment relates to governmental activities and about $720,000 affects enterprise funds, and explained the change reflects carrying forward sick/vacation balances and likelihood of use rather than only vested payouts.
The auditor reviewed major funds: the general fund showed about $46,400,000 in total assets, the county’s unassigned general-fund balance met the policy at about 24.9 percent, and capital and enterprise funds were summarized (healthcare center operating loss for 2024, highway enterprise operating income). Daniel said there were no financial-statement findings for 2024, but the audit disclosed two single-audit findings tied to federal and state awards: missing documented suspension-and-debarment checks for some vendors and a prior-year invoice that was paid and reported outside the grant performance period. She said staff had been notified and steps were underway to prevent recurrence.
The auditor closed by saying she was available to answer questions; committee members asked clarifying questions about the GASB change, fund-balance components and the enterprise-fund variances. The committee received the report and recorded no additional findings at the meeting.
Ending: The auditor and finance staff said they would provide any additional documentation committee members requested and continue work on the single-audit corrective actions.
