Altoona council hears 2024 audit; auditors report unmodified opinions, note two repeat findings

Chris Shirock of Young Oaks Brown and Company presented Altoona's 2024 audit to the City Council on Nov. 10 and said auditors issued unmodified ("clean") opinions on the financial statements that relate directly to city operations.

"Our auditors report, it's on all the opinions that rate directly to the city operations were unmodified or clean opinions," Shirock said. He summarized the statement of net position as about $479,000,000, reported an unrestricted portion shown as negative $23,000,000, and said $502,000 (as stated in the presentation) was invested in capital assets and restricted funds. He described a change in net position related primarily to capital investment.

Shirock told the council the general fund showed an increase in fund balance of roughly $3,200,000 for the year, though the city had budget variances: the general fund had been budgeted for a $1,200,000 surplus before transfers but actual results showed a loss of about $104,000; overall expenditures were approximately $2,000,000 under budget while revenues were about $3,300,000 under budget. He also reported total federal expenditures for 2024 were a little over $19,000,000 and that single audits were performed on the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds and Community Development Block Grants; those single audits covered nearly 95% of the city's federal expenditures and produced no findings or questioned costs.

Shirock said two financial statement findings remain that are repeats from prior years; he noted the city had eliminated one finding since last year (it had three findings previously). He invited questions and offered to answer follow-ups.

During media questions later in the meeting a reporter asked what it means to have a "clean" audit while findings remain. Councilman Beatty explained that "clean" or unmodified opinions mean the financial statements presented as a whole do not contain material misstatements, and that the remaining findings were not considered material to the overall opinion. The mayor and staff offered to review the audit details with the reporter at a follow-up meeting.

The auditor's presentation and the council's offer to meet for detailed follow-up were the principal outcomes of the audit discussion; no formal action was taken on the audit itself during the meeting.