Auditors say that Richmond County’s finances are consistent with past years.
During last night’s regular monthly meeting of Richmond Municipal Council, John MacNeil, an Audit Partner with Grant Thornton, presented the municipality’s financial statements for the year ending March 31, 2023.
In response to District 3 Councillor Melanie Sampson, MacNeil explained that the majority of the audit work was complete by the summer but took longer than usual because of new accounting practices, specifically the asset retirement obligation which looks at all municipal assets and any work they might require, which is reflected as a liability.
MacNeil said that work required an engineering study of all tangible assets and because many municipalities and governing organization were seeking those services at the same time, the engineering firms were behind, noting that they did not recieve the full report until January or February.
Overall, MacNeil told council the statements were “consistent with where we would’ve been in the previous years.”
Grant Thornton reviewed the statements “in detail” with the municipal Audit Committee on April 10 and “addressed any questions they had,” noted MacNeil.
Under the Consolidated Statement of Financial Position, MacNeil said cash and receivables was “very similar” to last year.
In terms of financial liabilities, the picture is also comparable to last year, said MacNeil.
A key indicator are net financial assets which compares liabilities to assets, said MacNeil. He said last year, the municipality recorded a debt of $888,000 but this year that is $706,000 in the black.
MacNeil said non-financial assets – mainly fixed assets like buildings, streets, and sewage – “hasn’t changed much.” He said the accumulated surplus last year was $33 million and this year stands at $34,300,000.
When looking at the Consolidated Statement of Operations, MacNeil said tax revenues are up while most revenue amounts are very consistent with where they were expected to be.
MacNeil said the increasing revenue for housing corporation operations are offset by increasing expenses.
Own Source Revenue is up from $800,000 to $1.2 million due to investment returns on various reserve funds and increasing interest rates, said MacNeil. He said capital contributions are also “very similar.”
Total revenues have increased from $23 million to $25 million, said MacNeil.
MacNeil said expenses were consistent with what was budgeted or projected and “very similar” to last year as far as amounts and trends.
MacNeil said recreation and culture had some additional grants and the recreation master plan was in the statements this year.
MacNeil said the municipality increased its cash surplus this year.
Later during the meeting, council approved the statements based on a recommendation from the audit committee.