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Sedgwick County posts clean 2025 audit, AAA rating reaffirmed; commissioners discuss fund balance and debt options
Summary
Independent auditors issued an unmodified opinion on Sedgwick County's 2025 financial statements and single audit with no findings; staff reported a strong unrestricted general-fund balance and declining long-term debt, prompting commissioner questions about using surplus to retire obligations.
Forvis Mazars issued a clean (unmodified) audit opinion on Sedgwick County's 2025 annual comprehensive financial report on June 3, and auditors reported no findings in the single-audit compliance review of federal programs.
Michael Gerber, partner at audit firm Forvis Mazars, told commissioners the firm issued a clean opinion after reviewing the county's financial statements and performed testing of major federal awards (about $40 million in federal expenditures) without reporting any compliance findings.
County financial staff highlighted several key metrics: total governmental revenues of $528 million and expenditures of $487 million for 2025; an unrestricted general-fund balance of roughly $107 million, comfortably above the county's 20% policy threshold (the 20% threshold equates to about $66 million on the presented budget base); and a net position increase that left the county with $642 million in net assets at year-end.
The report noted one-time and notable items in 2025, including $25 million in ARPA funds passed through from the state for a state mental health hospital project and changes in program funding related to the county's newly certified community behavioral health clinic model.
Commissioners asked detailed questions about the composition of the fund balance, liquidity and whether the county should use surplus funds to pay down outstanding obligations. Staff explained the difference between cash and broader fund-balance measures, described GASB 87 reporting changes that affect Public Building Commission (PBC) figures on the balance sheet, and said the countyis running a planned deficit in 2026 tied to known settlement and capital decisions. Lindsay Pro, the county's chief financial officer, and principal accountants offered to provide more detailed line-item backup after the meeting.
The commission voted 3–0 to receive and file the annual comprehensive financial report (two commissioners had left for other commitments). The speakers encouraging that action said the reportand sustained clean audit results strengthen the county's borrowing position; staff noted Sedgwick County retains a AAA rating from S&P and one of the smallest debt-service burdens among peer counties.
What happens next: finance staff will provide follow-up details requested by commissioners (debt schedule, lease/lease-purchase obligations for fire apparatus, and options for using surplus funds). The county continues to monitor long-term liability levels and capital funding needs, and the clean audit and single-audit results are likely to support continued favorable borrowing terms.
Quotes used in this article are drawn from presentations to the Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners on June 3, 2026.
