Lee County accepts clean 2024 audit; finance committee readies budget season

County finance chair Jim Scheelein and county accounting staff reported to the board that external auditors Wipfli issued a clean opinion on Lee County's 2024 financial statements and that the county has made progress addressing prior recommendations.

Reid, a county accounting official who said he took over writing most of the financial statements this year, told the board: “We got a clean opinion from from Wipfli.” He said the county has moved some agency accounts into the accounting system and is negotiating follow-up work and pricing with the auditor for future years.

Finance committee chair Scheelein noted that certain revenue trends — including local-use and personal-property-replacement tax receipts — continue to be “not in our favor” and that the budget process will begin in the next month. He reminded board members that budget meetings are public and that department-level questions are welcome during the budget process.

Board members voted to accept the audit by voice vote; the chair recorded “Aye” and declared the motion carried. The meeting packet includes the full audit and schedules for fund-level balances, and staff said mass-transit district accounts included in prior combined statements are being closed out in the current audit period.

No additional budget appropriations were approved at the meeting; the board moved to the next steps in the fiscal calendar.