Seth Johnson
The Gainesville Audit Committee voted Monday to forward four staff recommendations to the full City Commission.
The city’s audit department, now under the management of new City Auditor Stephen Mhere, has closed four audits already this year. The audits concerned financial reporting controls, recording cash deposits and two items concerning public records policy.
The department has also added a new audit to its lineup concerning the fire inspection process. In response to a question from Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut, Mhere said the department added the audit after Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) asked for a pause in general government-led audits.
Mhere said this fire inspection topic came to the forefront and the city manager agreed it was needed.
At Monday’s meeting, the business Purvis Gray presented the city’s financial statements for 2023, required by the state within nine months after the fiscal year ends.
Gainesville had fallen behind in its annual financial audits, catching the attention of the state. However, with the city finished its 2022 financial on time.
Gainesville’s finance director, Sue Wang, resigned in November 2023. In her resignation, she noted that city staff had worked hard to get the city’s audits back on track. In June 2023, she announced to the audit committee that the city was caught up.
With Monday’s presentation and a scheduled vote by the City Commission on Thursday, the 2023 financials will also finish on time. Purvis Gray’s Barbara Boyd said the company had reviewed the financial statements and found them accurate and complete, giving the city a “clean” or unmodified opinion.
“I would go back once again and thank everyone involved in the external audit process, which is a whole lot of people who did a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears,” Mayor Harvey Ward said at the meeting. “I really appreciate you getting us to this point and look forward to another discussion on Thursday about it.”