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Coats receives clean FY2023-24 audit; auditors flag staffing gap in finance
Summary
Auditors issued an unmodified opinion for the Town of Coats' FY2023-24 financials, noting healthy fund balances and ARPA support for the Water Fund but recommending improved segregation of duties that would require roughly two additional finance staff.
The Town of Coats received an unmodified audit opinion for fiscal year 2023-24, the town’s auditor told the Board of Commissioners on Nov. 14.
"We issued an unmodified opinion," Lee Grissom of SP Douglas & Associates said, the highest level of assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement. Grissom said there were no difficulties or disagreements during the audit and commended Finance Director Connie Lassiter for maintaining the town’s books "in excellent shape."
The audit noted one recurring finding: due to a limited number of finance staff the town lacks full segregation of duties, a control weakness the auditors said would require approximately two additional employees to resolve.
The presentation highlighted several financial positives. The Water Fund’s net position increased by $160,000, largely because of a $131,000 ARPA transfer into the fund. The General Fund added $330,000 in the fiscal year, bringing the General Fund balance to 136 percent; the Local Government Commission’s suggested minimum for the town is about 34 percent. Tax collection remained strong at about 99.9 percent, the auditors said.
Grissom also noted the town needs to respond to the LGC about its water fund fixed-asset ratio, which he said was approximately 45 percent after recently completed projects — shy of the 50 percent level used as a guideline.
The presentation did not include formal board action on the audit beyond the report to the board. The board did not discuss hiring specifics during the meeting; next steps for addressing the segregation-of-duties finding were not specified at the Nov. 14 session.
