The City of Fayetteville has completed its 2023-24 fiscal year audit early — the earliest in about 15 years, a feat that comes after the city submitted the audit late the previous two years.
PBMares, the city’s audit firm, presented the results at the Fayetteville City Council work session on Nov. 4. Auditors gave the city a clean bill of health, with the exception of a couple of minor issues relating to the accounts payable cutoff and recording of a grant loan program, PBMares partner Robbie Bittner said. However, these were not significant enough to detract from the overall high grade of the report.
“Overall, I was very pleased with the audit situation this year,” Bittner said. The unmodified opinion the city received, he added, is the “highest level of assurance that we can provide.”
Bittner said the city did have three categories that fell short of the Local Government Commission’s Performance Indicators, which are what the commission uses to assess local government financial performance after an audit. These included the two minor issues identified in the audit, ad valorem tax revenue exceeding the budgeted number by more than 3% and a lower-than-expected savings fund. Bittner indicated these are not major issues but that the city council will need to respond to the LGC about them.
Council members on the audit committee praised staff for getting the audit done quickly this year and with flying colors.
“A few months back, council shared our displeasure with the audit being late for the second year in a row,” Council Member Deno Hondros said. “Myself, I was one of the most vocal, I guess, of my displeasure, so I think it’s only fair that we commend them for a job well done.”
Parking update
In other news, there will be no changes to the city’s paid parking program, as had been feared by community members responding to an agenda item discussing a proposed parking fee increase on the city council’s Nov. 4 work session agenda. The Downtown Alliance, which had recently won a battle to reduce paid parking hours downtown, quickly responded to the item with alarm.
The presentation and discussion was, however, cut short by a motion by Council Member Malik Davis, who proposed tabling the discussion until January “so that we can have more discussion and so that staff can talk to downtown business owners as well.”
The council voted to table the discussion until its work session on Jan. 6.
Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608. This story was made possible by donations from readers like you to CityView News Fund, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to an informed democracy in Fayetteville and Cumberland County.
