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County auditors give Goodhue County an unmodified opinion; one federal testing item flagged
Summary
CliftonLarsonAllen presented the 2025 audit and said auditors will issue an unmodified (clean) opinion. The county's fund balance increased, debt declined and reserves are healthy. Auditors reported one federal compliance item: missing income-verification documentation in 2 of 60 sampled cases; staff said it is being addressed.
CliftonLarsonAllen auditor Douglas P. Holz told the Goodhue County Board that the 2025 financial statement audit will result in an unmodified (clean) opinion and that the county's financial position is stable.
"We will be issuing what's, called an unmodified opinion. Means it's clean," Holz said, summarizing audit findings and internal control testing. He reported that revenues were up year-over-year driven by property-tax revenues, local option sales tax and wheelage tax, and that the county's unrestricted fund balance had increased; the audit team calculated about 11 months of reserves using the standard buckets required for reporting.
The auditors identified one federal compliance testing issue: in testing 60 eligibility files for medical-assistance income verification, documentation was not provided for two files. Holz said that staff are already working with HHS and the state to identify necessary reports and resolve the matter.
Holz said there were no significant deficiencies to report and no state-compliance issues in the period tested. He also noted a reduction in outstanding debt of about $1.5 million and that the county's fund balance increased roughly $6.6 million compared with the prior year.
Commissioners asked technical questions about how the "months of reserves" metric is calculated and how internal budget accounting can make that number appear different for internal planning versus audit reporting. Holz and county staff explained differences in accounting bases and the five fund-balance categories auditors must use for comparability.
Why it matters: an unmodified opinion indicates the auditors believe the county's financial statements are materially correct as presented. The flagged federal testing item — missing documentation for two files — is a compliance matter that county staff indicated they are addressing with state partners.
Next steps: auditors expect to finalize documentation and the one-page summary letter; staff will continue working internally and with the state to resolve the federal testing item.
