GONZALES — City of Gonzales received good feedback on its 2017-18 Fiscal Audit, with a rise in the General Fund balance and new changes including Measure X funds and the Successor Agency finances.
The audit was performed by Bryant Jolley’s Firm and was dubbed a “clean audit.”
“There were no material misstatements of anything that we presented to the auditors,” said City Finance Director Mike Howard.
According to Howard, the General Fund balance is sitting at about $2.4 million, which is an increase from $2.2 million at the start of the fiscal year. The budget goal for 2017-18 was $232,000 and was missed by $17,000.
“In our world, that’s a right on budget,” Howard said. “Staff did really well at containing costs, and revenues came as projected.”
Some of the revenues and expenditures came a little higher than projected, but Howard said the city was able to maintain the balance. There will be a change in the financial statements this year regarding the end of year finances, and will include an opinion letter for Transportation Agency for Monterey County’s (TAMC) Measure X.
“This is a requirement for TAMC and the Measure X funds are completely separated out,” Howard explained. “They are completely audited separately and the opinion letter is an unqualified opinion.”
The “unqualified” status relates to all the TAMC receipts being expended as required by Measure X.
Howard said the audit was “good” and audits tend to go a little smoother when the city doesn’t have any money at the end of the year. When the city does have money at the end of the year, it is required to account for all the new assets.
The Successor Agency was also separated out to follow state law and is similar to a “trust fund,” which means that the city is a trustee that acts on behalf of the State of California.
