Pine County accepts 2024 financial statements and gets top audit opinion despite an internal control finding

County Auditor-Treasurer Kelly Schroeder presented the Pine County 2024 financial statements and a summary of the audit, telling the board the county received an unmodified opinion on both its financial statements and its federal awards audit, the best possible audit opinion.

Schroeder explained the audit included the management discussion and analysis, the basic financial statements, supplementary schedules and the single-audit of federal awards. She told commissioners that an internal control issue was identified as a material weakness related to timing and coding: an invoice for a 2024 highway project was paid in January 2025 and initially was not coded as a 2024 expense or the corresponding reimbursement as 2024 revenue. "It was fixed," Schroeder said, and staff updated coding and processes between the highway office and the auditor's office to prevent recurrence.

She reviewed key financial metrics: an increase in the general fund unrestricted balance (now about 27.2% of expenditures, inside board policy), roughly $23 million in cash and investments on 12/31 across accounts and investments, and that property-tax reliance fell (35% in 2024 versus 40% in 2022). Schroeder noted road and bridge projects and the timing of revenues can skew year-to-year comparisons and highlighted a recent $5.4M turnback that boosted road revenues in 2025 to date.

The board moved to accept the audit; a commissioner raised a separate question about a parcel that may lack a parcel ID and asked staff to research ownership and tax status offline.