Independent auditors present clean opinion on Willard’s 2025 financial statements; utility fund operating deficit noted

Origin Associates, Willard’s independent auditor for the 2025 fiscal year, presented the city’s financial statements on March 12 and issued a clean opinion.

"In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly in all material respects," Heather Kristofferson told the council, according to the firm’s statement. Kristofferson said there were no state findings in the audit report and that the firm had a few recommendations to strengthen internal controls and timing for next year.

Key figures and findings
- General fund: net change in fund balance was positive (about $246,000).
- Capital projects: net change showed a planned use of funds (loss of about $44,000).
- Proprietary (utility) fund: operating income was negative roughly $220,000 under full-accrual accounting; the council had earlier enacted rate increases that staff expects will correct the shortfall over time.

Why it matters: the clean audit signifies the city’s financial statements are materially correct under applicable accounting standards; however, the utility fund’s negative operating income highlights the importance of the recent rate changes and continued monitoring of depreciation and impact-fee strategies to fund infrastructure replacement.

Council response and next steps
Council members thanked staff and the auditors. Staff noted that some figures (depreciation expense and full-accrual accounting) do not reflect the cash-management picture and emphasized plans to use impact fees and the recent rate adjustments to reduce the need for debt when replacing major utility capital.

The audit was presented to the council and staff will confirm whether formal acceptance or a motion is required at a future meeting; staff noted that historically the audit has been presented rather than formally adopted.