Haywood County audit finds clean opinion, fund balance climbs to roughly $52M

Haywood County commissioners on March 3 heard that the county’s FY2024 financial statements received an unmodified (clean) audit opinion. "We've issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements of the county," said Travis, the auditor presenting the report, noting the audit provides reasonable assurance that the statements are fairly presented.

Travis told the board the audit included compliance testing for federal and state grants and that the single-audit covered 10 programs — six federal and four state — totaling nearly $17,000,000 in reviewed grant expenditures. He flagged two benchmarking items that require public discussion: an expenditure in excess of appropriation in the education department caused by timing of an ABC distribution, and a $390,000 deficit fund balance in the county building renovations fund that he described as a timing difference expected to resolve in FY25.

The auditor summarized key financial totals: total assets of about $152,000,000, total revenues around $138,000,000 and total expenditures about $129,000,000. Ad valorem (property) taxes made up the largest share of general fund revenue — roughly $56,000,000 or about 55 percent. "Your available fund balance made it up over $50,000,000 this year," Travis said; he characterized the county’s liquidity as strong compared with peers.

Commissioners praised county finance staff for improving the fund balance after a low point during the 2008–09 period and noted that flood response work this year will put pressure on reserves. The board offered no changes to the audit and accepted the presentation.