City audit has no findings
By Matt Caulder
Published in News on January 31, 2014 1:46 PM
Goldsboro's annual financial audit -- a snapshot of how well the city stuck to its budget last year -- is complete and the city given a clean bill of health.
No finance violations were discovered during the audit, either in the city's spending of tax funds or the various grants the city draws from, according to the review sent to the city by Carr, Riggs and Ingram CPAs and Advisors, which handled the audit.
The biggest concern was that during the year, the city's general fund decreased by $1.4 million overall due to high insurance claims on the city's health insurance, Goldsboro Finance Director Kaye Scott said.
"That's the financial risk," Mrs. Scott said. "When high claims come in."
The city provides health insurance to the city employees, which saves money over working through an outside company.
In response to the high claims, city insurance premiums were hiked 17.5 percent to cover the cost of last year's claims.
"We're just trying to break even on that," Mrs. Scott said. "We are a city, we aren't trying to make money. We just want to cover our costs."
The Local Government Commission requires municipalities complete an independent audit each year and the results be sent along to the commission.
Goldsboro's audit results have already been approved by the commission as having "no findings," which means the city had all of its ducks in a row.
The Goldsboro City Council congratulated Mrs. Scott for coming through another year without violations.
However, she was quick to give credit to the city employees and department heads who worked to stay within their individual budgets during the year.
"I'm very proud because it does show the city is doing well with its reporting and financials of all of our funds," Mrs. Scott said. "It reflects well on the whole city. All departments should be commended."
She said that the audit not only gives the city and its oversight committees a chance to poke under the hood, but it lets the citizens of Goldsboro keep tabs on how things are going in Goldsboro.
"Overall, the audit is for the whole city," Mrs. Scott said. "It lets the citizens know we are managing their money well and spending it wisely."
In addition to monitoring how money was spent the audit also showed a reduction in the city's debt.
The city's overall debt dropped by more than $9 million across the governmental and business-type activities, with an increase of a little more than $5 million in new debt.
The city's net assets by the end of the year were $53 million, with $41 million tied up in restricted funds or capital assets such as buildings.