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Pickens County audit returns clean opinion; auditor recommends clearing $2.79 million in long‑standing interfund balances
Summary
Auditors presented a clean (unmodified) opinion for Pickens County’s 2025 financials and recommended a one‑time cleanup to remove roughly $2.79 million of long‑standing interfund balances from the books; the adjustment would be non‑cash and processed during next year’s audit.
Auditors from Rushton told the Pickens County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday that the county’s financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2025, earned an unmodified (clean) opinion and were delivered on time.
"It is clean and on time," auditor Sam Le said as he opened the 2025 audit presentation dated June 5, 2026. Le summarized government‑wide and fund results, noting revenue growth, higher public‑safety expenditures and a general‑fund unassigned balance of roughly $10 million — about 25% of annual expenditures.
Why it matters: A clean audit affirms that county financial statements fairly present results under applicable standards; the board and staff said the conclusion will support upcoming financing decisions and routine budget work.
The auditors also detailed a recommended accounting cleanup. Le said the county carries roughly $2.79 million in interfund balances dating back to about 2014 — about $1.5 million recorded in the water fund and about $1.2 million in the airport fund — that have persisted on fund balance but do not represent cash owed. "These have been parked on the balance sheet since about 2014," Le said, and he recommended removing the amounts in a one‑time adjustment during the next audit cycle. He and staff described the action as a bookkeeping cleanup with "zero cash impact."
Le described the county’s overall financial position: net investment in capital assets near $60 million (up roughly $2 million year over year), restricted net position up about $2 million, and modest revenue growth (about 3%) versus larger growth in expenditures (about 6%), led by a roughly 7% increase in public safety spending. He also noted SPLOST receipts and transfers from the general fund to enterprise funds as items commissioners should watch.
On internal controls the auditors reported three current findings (down from 13 in a prior review), including one material weakness related to internal financial reporting; Le stressed that the finding signals a potential reporting risk rather than recorded loss. The county’s single‑audit over federal programs generated an unmodified opinion for the major program cited (Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds).
What’s next: The auditor told the board the $2.79 million interfund cleanup would be processed as a 2026 adjustment and would not change the audit just presented. County staff and the audit team said they will continue improving internal controls with the goal of removing the remaining finding in future audits.
— Pickens County auditors and finance director said they are available for follow‑up questions; commissioners thanked staff for their cooperation and demanded no immediate votes tied to the cleanup beyond the normal audit adjustment process.
