City auditor issues clean opinion for Abbeville's 2024 financials; revenues rose to $11.4 million

Steve Musa, the auditor who presented the report to the Abbeville City Council on June 17, said the auditors issued "a clean opinion for the year 2024." He told council revenues for the governmental funds were $11.4 million in 2024, up nearly $2 million from the previous year, while expenses were about $16.8 million.

Musa attributed the revenue increase primarily to federal and state grants covering capital outlays for street overlays and fire equipment distributions, and said the city uses utility (enterprise) fund transfers to supplement general fund operations when the general fund runs a deficit. "The profit from the enterprise fund which is utility sales supplements the general fund," he said.

Musa walked council through revenue and expenditure mixes: roughly half of governmental revenues are sales taxes, about 29–30% are state and federal grants or operating transfers, property taxes are about 4%, licenses and permits about 5%, and other revenues make up the remainder. He also reported that the city's public-safety expenses account for more than one-half of general-fund spending and that capital outlay was elevated in 2024 because of grant-funded roadway and fire projects.

On debt, Musa said Abbeville has three outstanding bond series and noted the city took a 2025 loan of $5.9 million that staff expects will be forgiven before year-end. He described retirement and health-insurance costs as stable but rising, and said the city has intentionally shifted more resources to infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, drainage).

Council approved the audit as presented after Musa's remarks. The audit will be submitted to the legislative auditors' public record as required.

What happens next: the audit record and the approved budget documents will be available on the legislative auditors' website and as public records held by the city.