Auditors give Nixa a clean opinion, highlight fund balances and cash position

Marshall Decker of Decker & Pace told the Nixa City Council on June 23 that the firm issued a clean opinion on the city’s financial statements and walked members through the report’s key sections.

Decker said the audit’s first pages show a clean opinion and that the required supplementary information summarizes budget-to-actual and other notes. He pointed council members to the governmental funds schedules, noting general fund revenue of $16,311,916 against expenses of $19,302,754 and explained that a bond issue had boosted “other sources” on the statements.

On the statement of cash flows, Decker said water, sewer and electric operating cash flows were positive and that the city’s cash and cash equivalents were sufficient to cover several months of operations. He illustrated the point by noting unassigned fund balance and cash equivalents that, in his view, put the city more than six months above a typical safety guideline: “you’re doing a 10,” he told the council.

Decker also reviewed the pension schedule, saying liabilities exceeded assets by roughly $3 million at market values in the presented schedule but that market valuation can shift year to year. He said management correspondence and notes were in order and that his firm had no written comments in the management letter.

Decker closed by offering ongoing support and research assistance to staff, and by inviting councilmembers to contact the firm with follow-up questions. The presentation concluded with council members thanking the auditors.

The audit presentation does not itself change policy; it provides the financial snapshot required for the city’s annual reporting and will accompany the city’s reporting to state and other interested parties.