City of Clinton receives ‘clean’ audit
The city of Clinton received good news during its Jan. 23 meeting.
Very good news.
Gary Mitchell, partner with Pugh CPA Knoxville, presented the city’s annual comprehensive financial report.
“Good news, we have a clean audit opinion for the city’s financial statement,” Mitchell told City Council.
Mitchell said Pugh CPA did not audit Clinton Utilities Board, which is audited by another firm, but it is included in the final report presented Jan. 23.
The city experienced a healthy increase in assets with a big increase in the pension, which grew during 2022
Key highlights included:
• The general fund ended the year with an $18.7 million fund balance, an increase of about $4 million from the previous year, driven by an American Rescue Plan Act grant from the state of Tennessee.
The general net change of fund balance of $4 million was anchored by “very strong revenue collections, thanks to property taxes and local option sales taxes,” Mitchell said.
• The city’s liabilities are “about” the same as the year before.
• The city has about $2 million in an unassigned fund balance for capital projects and continued operations.
• Clinton City Schools showed a negative change, but Mitchell said that was “deceiving.”
The city schools have a “strong revenue stream, but did have expenditure with improvements/additions at South Clinton Elementary School.” Mitchell said. “They just had a lot of capital outlay.”
• Federal grant money flowing through the state is very strong and will continue to be so. Last year, the city used $5.6 million in federal grant money, compared with $1.8 million the year before.
• There no findings to report on internal controls used by the city, which met all required financial compliance requirements for all federal funds.
