Archuleta County has found itself at the center of a positive trend, receiving another unqualified (now called unmodified) audit for 2014.
The county has received unqualified audits every year since the 2009 audit (completed in 2010).
The 2014 completed audit was presented to the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners on Sept. 15 by Tyra Litzau of Anton Collins Mitchell LLF.
The positive outcome of the audit caused the commissioners to highlight the county’s financial progress over the past several years, with Commissioner Michael Whiting calling the county a “turnaround story in fiscal responsibility.”
According to audit documentation, the county’s financial highlights for 2014 included:
• The county exceeded its liabilities as of Dec. 31, 2014, by $48,447,502. Of that amount, $14,223,652 “may be used to meet the County’s ongoing obligations to citizens and creditors.”
• The county’s total net position increased by $4,024,048 or 9.1 percent during 2014. The governmental net position increased by $4,078,758 or 19.9 percent and the business-type net position decreased by $54,710 or 0.2 percent.
• The combined governmental fund balances at the end of 2014 were $16,104,785, which was an increase over 2013 of $2,359,782. The unassigned combined fund balance included in the documentation was $4,853,044 and was available for spending.
• The unassigned fund balance above is within the county’s general fund and was 57.4 percent of the total general fund expenditures.
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