SWEETWATER COUNTY – Many residents may remember several years ago when the county’s finances were all over the place. The Sweetwater County Commissioners at the time hired an employee to oversee the county finances.
With a new Account Manager Bonnie Phillips in place, the county has put extra focus on putting the finances back in order. Some questioned if this was a necessary step but if the recent audit is an indicator, it must have been the right one and the county finances are moving forward in a positive direction.
Recently, the county received its audit. Robert Dahill of McGee, Hearne & Paiz, LLP., reported there were no instances where managers were going against policy and there were no unusual transactions. Overall the county received an unmodified opinion which is what any government agency is looking for when they receive an audit. It simply means the auditors did not find any financial statements were materially misstated.
One entity of the county which they did not audit was the financial statements of Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County. It is presented as a major discretely presented component unit of the County. Its assets totaled $125,507,337 and its revenues totaled $59,109,933 in the accompanying basic financial statements. The financial statements of the Hospital were audited by other auditors whose report has been furnished to the county auditors.
For the primary government, the county’s assets exceeded its liabilities at the close of the fiscal year by $108,926,049 (net position). Of this amount, $36,195,802 (unrestricted net position) may be used to meet the county’s ongoing obligations to citizens and creditors. For the entire county government (including component units), net position was $206,510,996 and unrestricted net position was $83,968,574. Note that with the current financial reporting model, the total net position figure includes capital assets net of accumulated depreciation.
At the close of the year, the county’s governmental funds reported combined ending fund balances of $42,087,983, an increase of $6,611,593 from the prior year. Of this amount, $24,317,152 is available for spending at the county’s discretion (unassigned fund balance).
At the end of the year, the unassigned fund balance for the general fund was $24,317,152 or 61% of total general fund expenditures.
Total debt (capital leases) for the primary government increased by $115,997 during the year.
During the year, the County entered into one capital lease agreement of $968,374 and made payments of $852,377. Other than capital leases, no new debt was incurred. Capital leases payable as of June 30, 2013 were $643,220.
These statements include the county as well as the component units of Sweetwater County which include Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County, Sweetwater County Fair Board, Southwest Counseling, Sweetwater County Library System, Sweetwater County Museum, Sweetwater County Recreation Board and the Sweetwater County Board of Health.
Governmental activities for the primary government increased the county’s net position by approximately $4.82 million. The key elements of this increase are as follows:
– Property taxes increased by approximately $4.97 million. This is a 22 percent increase over the previous year. Capital grant and contribution revenues decreased by approximately $5.68 million for an 86 percent decrease over the prior year. Sales taxes decreased $6.95 million for a 40 percent decrease from the previous year.
– General government is the largest expenditure program accounting for 39 percent of the total expenditures for the County. Public safety is second at 34 percent and road and bridge is third with 19 percent.
– Primary government expenditures decreased by approximately $8.82 million or 18 percent from the previous year.
The business type activity is the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County. Key elements of its activities are revenues increased by approximately $1.79 million or 3 percent over the previous year. Expenses increased by approximately $3.71 million or 7 percent over the prior year. Revenues were in excess of expenditures increasing net position by approximately $1.39 million.
At the end of the year, for governmental activities, the county and its component units had invested $80.63 million in a variety of capital assets, as reflected in the following schedules, which represents a reduction of $1.35 million or 1.6 percent from last year.
Other parts of the county which were audited were federal funds and internal controls. Dahill explained they audited highway grants, Homeland Security Grants and substance abuse grants.
There was no major deficiencies found in the handling of the grants. The three grants audited made up 81 percent of the federal funds received.
There also were not any material weaknesses in internal control but there were some deficiencies found. Dahill said they were minor and were being addressed. Accounting errors and segregation of entity finances were the issues.
Chairman Wally Johnson asked if the county had made progress?
“Yes progress has been made,” Dahill said. “But it is not where you want to be.”
Dahill explained this answer by telling the commissioner there were still 19 problems found overall but said the first year they did the county audit, there was just over 120.
Commissioner Reid West said he was disappointed they have not come along quicker. He also expressed appreciation for the elected officials and department heads who have worked to improve the audit.
Again, Dahill said everyone was cooperative and helpful and they appreciated the hard work of everyone in the county to make the audit successful.
Commissioner John Kolb said it sounded like everything was going in the right direction and improving.
“Government seems to take a long longer than I would like it to take,” Kolb said. “But I’m glad to be a part of this.”
Johnson has been working on the audit issue for 10 years. He said they have made some real progress and are getting things back on track.
“We have made real progress,” Johnson said. “We have come a long way and hiring Bonnie has made a big difference.”
