Boca Raton CRA reports $12.4M increase in net position and receives clean audit

The Boca Raton Community Redevelopment Agency received its annual financial statements and compliance report at the April 24 meeting, where staff and the city’s external auditors described improved fiscal results and issued a clean audit opinion.

Jim Zervos, the CRA’s financial services director, told the board the agency ended the fiscal year with just over $127 million in total assets and a net position increase of about $12.4 million compared with 2022. He said tax‑increment revenue rose by roughly $3.81 million—driven by a 22.3% increase in assessed valuation within the redevelopment area—and expenses declined about $7.2 million year‑over‑year, yielding a favorable actual‑to‑budget variance of about $8.6 million.

“The audit report… is an unmodified opinion,” Zervos said, describing the auditors’ clean opinion and noting the financial statements were prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Auditors’ findings

An auditor representing the engagement summarized the independent auditors’ report and compliance testing. The auditor stated the firm issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the CRA financial statements for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2023, and reported no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal control during compliance testing under Florida statutes that govern CRAs.

The report also noted approximately $59 million in deferred revenue related to future lease receivables in the Meissner Park area; Zervos emphasized that those amounts are assets to be collected in the future and are not available to spend today.

Why it matters

The clean opinion indicates auditors found the statements fairly presented in all material respects and that the CRA’s financial activities for the year complied with relevant statutory requirements, including disclosure obligations under Florida Statute 163.387. Board members congratulated staff on the clean report and thanked audit staff for their work.

What happens next

Staff will post and file the audit report as required, and the CRA will continue standard financial reporting and follow‑up on any auditor recommendations or routine compliance items. The board received the report and had no supplemental requests for immediate action.