Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City auditor reports qualified government-wide opinion and several internal-control findings
Summary
Auditor Lindsay Eviles told the commission that the city received a qualified opinion on government-wide statements due to an unmeasured other post-employment benefits liability, and listed revenue misclassification, lease receivable recognition (~$1.3M), segregation-of-duties documentation gaps, cutoff/accrual errors, and bidding/minutes documentation as significant findings.
Lindsay Eviles, audit partner with Carrigs and Ingram, presented the city's FY2024 financial statement audit and said the firm issued a qualified opinion for the government-wide financial statements because the city has not calculated an other post-employment benefit liability that the auditors deem material.
"The governmental activities has a qualified audit opinion, which is a less than perfect opinion," Eviles said, explaining that the qualification stems from the city's lack of an actuarial calculation for post-employment benefits and the resulting uncertainty about the liability amount. She said the general fund received an unmodified (clean) opinion.
Eviles reviewed comparative financial results and adjustments: total assets ended just under $13 million for 2024 (an increase tied largely to capital additions); long-term liabilities rose to about $1.9 million (including SRF construction loans); and net position ended just under $9.4 million — a slight decrease from 2023. She also reported a modest net decrease in net position of about $113,000 for the year.
The auditor detailed internal-control and reporting findings: revenue misclassifications and year-end cutoff errors that required audit adjustments; an unrecorded lease receivable associated with a long-term sewer-collection lease (about $1.3M) that had to be recognized; inadequate documentation of review and approval (segregation of duties); improper netting of franchise-fee revenue (about $31,000 adjustment); and incomplete bidding and meeting-minute records that complicated verification of procurement actions.
Eviles urged improved communication with the city's third-party accounting provider to ensure revenues and expenses are recorded in the correct fiscal year and recommended that the city consider obtaining the post-employment benefits calculation in FY25 to remove the qualification. Commissioners asked for the auditor and third-party accountant to meet and to schedule a kickoff for the FY25 audit.
No formal votes were taken as a direct result of the presentation; commissioners scheduled follow-up (audit kickoff and coordination with the third-party accounting firm) for the coming week.
