Town of Louisa audit shows improved cash and fund balance; auditors flag two findings

The town received an unmodified opinion on its fiscal year 2025 financial statements, the auditors told the Louisa Town Council at its April meeting. Cecilia Taylor, senior accountant with Robinson Firefox, said the town's net position on a full-accrual basis is about $14 million and that the modified-basis fund balance at year-end was $4.7 million.

Taylor said unassigned fund balance rose to about $3.7 million and cash and cash equivalents were approximately $4.8 million at June 30, 2025. She told the council revenues on a modified-accrual basis totaled $2.9 million against a $3.8 million budget, a shortfall the auditors attributed primarily to state grant budget entries that were not received.

The audit presentation noted two items auditors want the town to address. Taylor described a finding tied to material adjustments made to the financial statements, which the auditors said appeared related to insufficient reconciliations and internal controls. She also said auditors could not find evidence that certain American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) compliance requirements had been satisfied and flagged that as a compliance finding.

Jay, the partner in charge of the town audit, thanked the finance team for their cooperation and described turnover in key finance positions as a complicating factor in completing the audit on time. He also said the audit includes a restatement related to GASB 101 (a recent governmental accounting pronouncement affecting compensated-absence accounting) that auditors reviewed with staff; the presentation described the restatement and noted it was limited in dollar effect.

Councilors asked several follow-up questions about the cemetery fund exhibits and the timing of debt payments; Taylor pointed the council to exhibits in the draft report showing long-term debt of about $5.7 million, with roughly $3.0 million associated with general-government activities and $2.7 million tied to business-type activities (water, sewer and cemetery). She recommended the council and staff consider debt timing when planning cash-flow and capital improvements.

Taylor said the audit team would make final edits and thanked staff for their work; she invited councilors to send any additional questions to the auditors by email. The council did not take a formal vote on the audit itself at the meeting; the report was presented as the draft FY2025 audit and will be finalized after staff responses to the findings.