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Council adopts FY 2023–24 audit with a clean opinion; members press staff on water and sewer accounting
Summary
Lowell City Council accepted the FY 2023–24 audit from Butler Stone, which issued a clean opinion. Council members pressed finance staff and the auditor for clarifications about water and sewer fund reconciliations, stormwater and grant accounting.
Lowell City Council voted to adopt the city—Y 2023'8'4 audit as presented by Butler Stone, after an auditor uthoritatively delivered a "clean opinion" and answered council questions about fund accounting.
Sheila of Butler Stone told the council the firm had completed the audit and that it met the requirements of the North Carolina statutes and the Local Government Commission, saying: "The opinion of Butler Stone was that there's a clean opinion, which means the city has met the audit requirements of the North Carolina statutes." She pointed council members to the financial statements for June 30, 2024, and noted an internal control report in the compliance section.
Why it matters: A clean audit signals that the auditors did not identify material misstatements in the city's financial statements. But several council members and residents pressed for more detail about how specific funds were reconciled and how grant-related receipts and professional-service charges were recorded.
During post-presentation questions, councilors focused on the water and sewer fund. One council member pressed staff on figures shown on the audit schedules and on payments for water purchases, saying the modest net figure shown "is a joke; we got way more than that," and asking for clearer ledger-level accounting of grant receipts, reimbursements and project-specific expenditures. Finance staff and the auditor repeatedly directed the council to line-item detail in the audit packet (the presenter noted specific pages where line items and reconciliations appear) and said they would provide follow-up detail as requested.
The council formally moved to adopt the FY 2023'024 audit; the motion passed in open session. The auditor said there were no reportable problems or issues for the year ended June 30, 2024, under the tests performed. Council members asked staff to return with additional clarifications on the water and sewer reconciliations, stormwater fee accounting and the grant-funded project entries cited during the discussion.
The council's adoption of the audit is procedural confirmation of receipt; follow-up work on internal reconciliations and grant accounting was requested by multiple members, who said they want clearer, line-item supporting documentation in advance of budget deliberations.
