Boca Raton reports clean audit, $1.4 billion in assets; investment returns about 3%

Carlisha Jenkins, the city's accounting manager, presented Boca Raton's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2023, and said the independent auditors issued an unmodified ("clean") opinion on the financial statements.

"We are pleased to re to have received a clean, unmodified opinion on our financial statements," Jenkins said during the workshop presentation, noting the ACFR follows generally accepted government accounting standards and includes a management's discussion and analysis summarizing the year's results.

The report shows the city ended the fiscal year with just over $1.4 billion in total assets, including about $698 million in capital assets. Liabilities were reported at roughly $446 million, including around $68 million in bonds payable, yielding an approximate net position of $1.0 billion of which $268 million was unrestricted, Jenkins said. She also noted the city collected nearly $109 million in property taxes and about $84 million in other taxes, and that revenues exceeded budgeted amounts by approximately $11.7 million while expenditures were about $13 million below budgeted levels.

Moises Bridal, who presented the independent auditors' report, told the council the audit opinion concluded that the financial statements "are fairly presented in all material respects" as of Sept. 30, 2023. "That's an unmodified and, known as a clean opinion," he said and urged members to review the 13-page MD&A for the underlying drivers of the change in net position.

Hermiz Garzone, the senior audit manager who presented the compliance and single-audit results, said the auditors found no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal control or financial reporting related to the fiscal-year audit. Garzone also noted the city's compliance testing of federal and state grant programs: total federal awards expenditures were reported at about $2,000,000 for FY2023 and state financial assistance at about $1,900,000, and the single-audit testing produced no findings for the sampled programs. He said the city timely updated pension investment policies to comply with House Bill 3 and filed the update by the December 15 deadline.

Treasury manager (addressed in the meeting as Mister Conahan) presented the annual investment report and the portfolio's performance, describing policy priorities of safety, liquidity and yield. He said the portfolio's coupons and recognized gains produced an effective yield of just over 3 percent this year, a notable improvement from the prior year when the portfolio produced little to no realized earnings.

Council members asked no substantive questions during the workshop presentation. Staff said the full ACFR and related schedules are available electronically for review and the auditors and finance staff offered to answer follow-up questions at the regular meeting.

The workshop presentation does not record any formal council actions on the ACFR or investment report; both items were presented for review and will proceed through the council's regular agenda processes if formal acceptance or additional actions are required.