Simsbury auditors give town an unmodified opinion and report healthy reserves

CliftonLarsonAllen LLP presented an unmodified opinion on the Town of Simsbury’s FY2025 financial statements and on federal and state single audits, reporting no compliance findings or significant internal control deficiencies.

The audit presentation, led by Dave Flint of CliftonLarsonAllen, showed a general fund balance of $21.8 million in gross terms with $356,000 nonspendable, $860,000 committed for the Board of Education non-lapsing fund, and $21,000 in encumbrances rolling into FY26 — yielding a net fund balance of roughly $20.6 million, or about 16% of the 2026 budget. "We issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements," Flint told the Board, and said the firm also provided unmodified opinions on the single audits.

Why it matters: a comfortable fund balance provides the town with a cushion for revenue shortfalls or unexpected costs and helps maintain credit standing. The audit also highlighted that the town met its actuarially required contributions to pension plans and that the OPEB plan is unusually well-funded at 105%.

CLA reported pension-plan funded ratios of roughly 73.4% (general government), 80.7% (police) and 74.8% (Board of Education). Flint attributed the improvement in net pension positions to strong investment returns in 2025 (about 10.85% for pension portfolios and 11.7% for OPEB). He noted that the town contributed 100% of its actuarially required amounts.

Board members pressed for clarifications on significant estimates, including actuarial assumptions used for net pension and OPEB liabilities. CLA noted those are judgmental estimates and said the town plans an experience study to refine assumptions. The auditors also noted two recently adopted GASB standards that have limited or no material impact on Simsbury’s statements and flagged a continuing management advisory comment about implementing capital asset reporting in the Munis accounting system to reduce spreadsheet risk.

The Board asked CLA to break out the State teacher retirement contribution within the presentation; Flint said the current statements net the state teacher retirement contribution to zero (included in education expenditures and intergovernmental revenue) but that the breakout could be accommodated in reporting. The Board also requested a follow-up on the Department of Continuing Education’s entity classification within six months.

The audit presentation closed without findings that would require corrective action, and Chair Lisa Heavner congratulated staff on the results. The Board moved on to other agenda items after the presentation.