Published Wednesday, February 03, 2010 8:40 AM
Updated Wednesday, February 03, 2010 8:41 AM

 

County financial audit receives highest rating

The Berkeley County government received its own version of a five-star rating when results of an independent audit were presented to county council at last week’s meeting.

“I am pleased to tell you we were able to give you an ‘Unqualified Opinion,’ and in terms of an audit, that’s about as good as it gets,” said Larry Finney, whose firm Greene, Finney and Horton conducted the audit.

“I’m excited about the results of the audit,” said Supervisor Dan Davis. “We have some very fine, quality professionals working for Berkeley County’s finance department and I’m proud of the job they do.”

The audit was done concurrently with the Water and Sanitation audit called for at the beginning of last year. While the results of the yearlong audit on Berkeley County finances were released last week, the findings of the Water and Sanitation audit were delayed 30 days in order to give some members of council time to read it.

The audit was released on Dec. 11, 2009.

Finney added that Berkeley County’s general fund balance had actually increased in 2009.

“Out of the forty audits we conducted on local governments I can count the number of governments on one hand that saw their fund balance increase,” Finney said. “This should give you an indication as to how good those results were over the past year.

“Your fund balance has increased in 2009 and that’s a good sign you are moving in the right direction.”

The fund balance revenue comes from impact fees and other fees collected from taxes and water rates.

Revenue from taxes, impact fees, permits and licenses were all down statewide according to Finney, but Berkeley County showed a seven-percent increase in 2009.

“Which is good,” Finney said. “The county did a good job of managing their expenditures during this fall off in revenue and keeping expenditures down as well.”

Finney also mentioned the revenue deficit experienced by the county’s Parks and Recreation Services, which is primarily Cypress Gardens.

“Cypress Gardens reported an operating loss of more than $600,000 which can be primarily attributed to the poor economy,” Finney said. “Funding for Cypress Gardens has been an ongoing issue for several years.”

Davis said that there is a plan in the works that will cover funding for Parks and Recreation, primarily for Cypress Gardens and Spider’s Landing, and specific news of this would be coming soon.