An external review of the city of Alachua’s financial records for the 2023-24 fiscal year found no significant problems, according to results presented to the City Commission during a regular meeting on Monday night.
Ron Whitesides, chair of the audit department at Purvis Gray, the city’s independent certified public accountants, presented the audit results.
“The management team is doing a very good job of… properly accounting for the city’s transactions and capturing those,” Whitesides said. “We had no other significant difficulties in performing the audit. We were out here in December, doing the audit. We finished this report in March, on the agenda for this meeting. If there’s issues in the audit, the turnaround doesn’t happen that quickly.”
The report came back clean on financial statements, internal control and compliance, federal single audit and investment of excess funds. The auditors also had no written comments for the current year.
The city’s total revenues were down from the year before, which Whitesides attributed to a lawsuit settlement in 2023 which boosted that year’s financials. Expenses in the 2023-24 fiscal year were also higher than the year before, which Whitesides said was due largely to payroll and benefit increases from raises and an increased staff headcount.
The “clean” audit report is the highest possible audit opinion, and according to meeting documents, this was the city’s 22nd consecutive year receiving that distinction.
According to finance and administrative services director Rob Bonetti, the city has earned a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for 14 years in a row from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada.
Citizens stepped up to the podium to ask follow-up questions on the city’s budget, covering the $1.9 million in American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funding spent on a new well, and where the city has put its $1.8 million of investments—the answer being in the Small Business Administration and in local banks. Bonetti said interest earnings are mostly used for miscellaneous costs but are always budgeted.
The commission voted 4-0 to accept the audit report, with Commissioner Jennifer Ringersen absent.
During the same meeting, the commission accepted a budget amendment to include the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance grant, providing $25,920 to the Alachua Police Department for the purchase of a motorcycle for the Alachua Police Department.