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Auditor issues clean opinion on Bisbee's FY2025 statements; resident questions sales tax reporting
Summary
Squire & Company presented an unmodified opinion for Bisbee's fiscal 2025 financial statements; Finance Director explained that accruals and reversals accounted for a decline in reported sales tax between draft and final statements.
Squire & Company presented the City of Bisbee's annual audit for the year ended June 30, 2025, and issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the financial statements at the Feb. 3 council meeting.
Steven Palmer, CPA, said the city's net position increased by about $1.3 million to $11.7 million during FY2025. He provided a five-year trend analysis showing overall stability in assets, liabilities and equity, and noted $1.2 million in transfers to capital project funds that reduced cash in 2025.
During public comment resident Beth Moorhouse asked why the year-end actual balance for sales tax revenue fell from $4.6 million in the draft financial statement to $4.2 million in the final audited version. Finance Director Keri Bagley responded that draft figures are subject to year-end accruals and reversals. She said revenues received in July and August had been accrued to the previous fiscal year and then reversed during audit finalization, which accounted for the difference.
Palmer also reported enterprise fund details: the wastewater fund showed expenses exceeding revenues by about $1 million in FY25, though that included roughly $1.2 million in non-cash depreciation expense. The sanitation fund reported cumulative net income of $1.1 million over five years, and the Queen Mine fund had revenues exceeding expenses by about $1.1 million over the same period.
Council accepted the audit presentation and had no findings classified as material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, according to the auditor's report.
