Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Financial Audit topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mount Pleasant council accepts FY2025 audit after auditor reports unmodified opinion
Summary
The city council unanimously accepted the fiscal year 2025 financial audit, which auditors issued with an unmodified opinion; auditors highlighted stronger pension funded ratio and recommended follow-ups on internal-control items noted in governance letters.
Mount Pleasant — The City Council voted unanimously May 19 to accept the City of Mount Pleasant’s fiscal year 2025 financial audit after Brooks Watson & Company presented an unmodified audit opinion.
John Watson, partner with Brooks Watson & Company, told the council the audit for the year ended Sept. 30, 2025, found no material misstatements and resulted in an unmodified opinion, the highest level of assurance. Watson highlighted a net position increase, a larger operating surplus in proprietary funds (notably water and sewer) and an improved pension funded ratio of about 89%.
"The city is receiving an unmodified opinion," Watson said, adding that the audit work followed Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS) and included testing of balances, third-party confirmations and proposed audit adjustments listed in the governance letter.
Watson also reviewed operating results: general fund revenues rose to about $20.55 million, sales taxes made up roughly 31% of governmental revenues, and the general fund ended the year with a modest deficit after transfers. On the proprietary side, water and sewer generated significant operating income while the airport fund ran a deficit that will require subsidy.
Councilmembers questioned the auditors on pension volatility and prior-year recommendations. Watson explained year-to-year pension asset swings result largely from investment returns and benefit payments; he said a strong investment year produced net investment income that reduced the net pension liability by about $1 million.
"In years when the stock market is down the investment assets usually lose ground," Watson said, describing the long-term smoothing expectation for actuarial assumptions.
Rebecca Elliott, interim finance director, and council members noted staff turnover in the finance office and said they were taking the auditors’ internal-control recommendations seriously. Watson said there were no uncorrected misstatements and that audit adjustments were proposed and documented in the letters provided to council.
Councilmember 3 moved to accept the audit and the motion passed unanimously.
The council’s acceptance completes the audit process for FY2025 and satisfies the state’s audit-filing requirements that can affect a city’s ability to adopt property tax revenue increases.
