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Union County accepts FY2025 audit; auditor flags billing delays and internal control deficiencies
Summary
The Union County Board accepted the FY2025 audit, which the external auditor described as a 'unified opinion' on the financial statements while flagging several significant internal-control deficiencies, including delayed ambulance billings and prior‑year closeout procedures.
The Union County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to accept the county’s FY2025 audit after an external auditor delivered the financial report and highlighted several internal-control issues.
The auditor told the board the audit resulted in a "unified opinion" on the county’s financial statements but noted "a couple of deficiencies that we call significant," citing delayed ambulance billings and the need to finalize prior-year closeouts so numbers from earlier years are not changed retroactively. "If you don't fix them at some point in some time, something may go wrong," the auditor said.
The auditor summarized key figures from the statement of net position and activities as presented: deferred outflows exceeded liabilities and deferred inflows by about $21,167,000; the audit recorded roughly $13.96 million in expenses and about $19.15 million in revenues, producing an approximate net increase of $5.19 million year over year. The auditor also described fund balances and noted roughly $5.8 million available for general use after accounting for restricted amounts.
Board members asked for clarification on several operational items the audit raised. The auditor recommended closing prior fiscal years to prevent retrospective posting of transactions and urged timely ambulance billing to avoid cash‑flow pressure; he said Medicare and other payers can take 60 to 90 days to process claims, amplifying the effect of billing delays.
After discussion the board voted to accept the FY2025 Union County audit and separately accepted the county circuit court audit. Votes were recorded as 'yes' from the commissioners present.
The board did not adopt any new policy actions at the meeting to remediate the auditor’s findings; the auditor said final audit files would be delivered electronically to county staff and that he would follow up on open items. The board’s next steps include reviewing the auditor’s written management letter and tracking implementation of recommended control improvements.
