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External auditors issue clean opinion on Tuscaloosa City 2025 financial report; council hears fund health and surplus calculation
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Summary
Auditors told the council they are issuing a clean, unmodified opinion on the city's financial statements, reported a GFOA certificate for the 38th consecutive year and highlighted key figures including roughly $1.46 billion in assets and a general fund increase of about $10 million.
External auditors delivered the annual comprehensive financial report and told the Tuscaloosa City Council they are issuing a clean, unmodified opinion on the city's fiscal year financial statements.
"I'm happy to say that we're issuing a clean, unmodified opinion on this year's report," Lucas Hand, the lead auditor from the engagement firm, told the council. He also said the firm issued a clean single-audit opinion and found no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses in the city's internal controls.
Hand highlighted a series of key figures from the report: total assets and deferred outflows near $1,460,000,000 with roughly $412,600,000 in capital assets net of depreciation and about $412,600,000 in cash and investments at year end; government-wide revenues of approximately $3,332,000,000 and expenses of about $284,200,000 that produced an ending net position of $592,800,000 (a year-over-year increase of about $48,200,000). At the fund level, the auditor summarized general fund activity of around $194,100,000 in revenues and $200,600,000 in expenditures, partially offset by about $16,500,000 in other financing sources that resulted in a net increase to the general fund of roughly $10,000,000.
The auditor also noted the city received the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting for fiscal year 2025, the 38th consecutive year the city has earned that distinction. Hand urged council members to review the management discussion and analysis (MD&A) for context on year-to-year fluctuations.
Council members asked clarifying questions about items including subscription-based IT arrangements (described in the presentation as SABITAs / SaaS examples like body-camera cloud storage), the composition of liabilities in enterprise funds and the calculation of fund reserves. Miss Standridge presented a surplus calculation and explained a city code reserve requirement equal to 20% of the prior year's operating budget; staff said any unreserved fund balance above that requirement is considered spendable and may be transferred to reserve funds for future improvements.
The auditors concluded their required communications noting independence, no disagreements with management, and no uncorrected misstatements. The presentation closed and council members thanked the presenters.
