The City of Winnemucca is in a pretty good financial situation, according to independent auditors delivering the city's audit review to the city council members at their meeting on Nov. 18.
The city had a total of $26,130,262 in cash and investments as of June 30, 2014, which was reduced by about $3 million dollars in part because of the capital projects as well as the paying of debt.
The net position (the difference between assets and liabilities) of the city, as of June 30, is $56,686,756, an increase of $3,929,566 over the prior year.
Of that net position, $30,185,711 is invested in capital assets, $326,455 has restrictions on use, and the remainder is unrestricted and available to fund the general operations of the city.
The ending fund balance was about $8.3 million with total expenditures at about $6.9 million in expenditures. There was a $275,000 loss in the general fund. Still the city's funds were all "very healthy."
A lot of money was expended in the last fiscal year, said Andree Rose, representative of Drake Rose & Associates, but the city had a lot to show for those expenses.
Some of the expenditures included the purchase of vehicles, a record management system, airport land and fencing, the extensions of Offenhauser and Great Basin roads, the refurbishing of Water Canyon, the Baud Street sewer system and the building of the new firehouse.
Of all the governmental fund types, public works accounted for expenditures of $4,963,365 and public safety accounted for $3,984,545. (Governmental fund types include the general fund, capital projects and improvement funds debt service funds and internally managed funds.) Capital improvements such as the Offenhauser extensions are classified as public works.
Public works ($1,046,566) and public safety ($3,984,545) accounted for the largest expenditures from the general fund, which is essentially the city's operating fund. Public works expenditures from the general fund include street maintenance, airport, cemetary, city engineer, public building and planning. About $854,379 was spent on culture and recreation and about $903,472 was spent on general government activities.
Intergovernmental activity generated the most revenue for the city's governmental funds. Intergovernmental activity includes grants and taxes such as the consolidated tax, airport gas tax, state gaming license fees and gasoline taxes and was $4,918,347, or 48 percent of the source of funds.
Property taxes accounted for about 18 percent of the city's revenue, with $1,884,956 generated and which had increased by about $250,000. Rose said the increase was mostly related to centrally assessed properties which transect Humboldt County such as power lines, train tracks and pipelines.
Rose said the second largest source of revenue was listed as miscellaneous and accounted for $2,404,939. Miscellaneous includes private donations contributed to capital improvement projects such as the $850,131 in notes receivable from New Vision Development for the payback on the extension of Great Basin.
The city once again received a clean opinion from the independent auditors of Drake Rose & Associates. This means the financial statements were presented fairly in all material respects. While there were no material weaknesses, the accounting firm reported two deficiencies in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards, which were corrected by the city.
Rehabilitation of an existing well, which cost about $75,000, was classified as a captial asset and was added to the depreciation schedule. Because of the amount, the rehab was capitalized but should have been classified as a repair.
An expenditure of $78,192 was posted to fiscal year 2015 instead of the current fiscal year. Rose said a review as to when the item was received or when the service was performed would help to avoid that type of understatement.
The city conformed to statuatory constraints except with a few expenditures which were over the budget. About $6,600 in services and supplies for culture and recreation were expended out of the captial improvement fund which could have been expended out of the general fund because they were lower than the city's capitalization policy.
An overexpenditure of about $428,000 in public works showed the firehouse was ahead of schedule, and Rose said it was just a matter of timing. There was also $135,000 in emergency repairs which exceeded the budget for the water fund.
Steve West, city manager/engineer, said the city must estimate how much work will be completed and how much money will be expended before the end of the fiscal year before the start of the new fiscal year. The only way to avoid an overexpenditure would be to budget for both fiscal years, and West said the city does not operate that way.
Contact Stephanie Morton at s.morton@winnemuccapublishing.net.[[In-content Ad]]
