Audit reports clean bill of health for city of St. Joseph

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- City leaders received promising news on the strength of its financial position and reporting practices based on results from a recently released audit.

St. Joseph received a "clean" audit for fiscal year 2024, meaning the city's financial statements were fairly presented and reporting practices showed no material deficiencies or misstatements. Most importantly, the city was in compliance with all finance-related laws and regulations.

"The audit was incredibly strong. There were no notes of significant deficiency," City Manager Mike Schumacher said. "You don't want any big flashing red lights or problems in it. And that's what we got."

Auditors with Hood & Associates CPAs specifically reviewed the city's basic financial statements, police and pension fund and compliance over expenditures of federal awards and grants.

"Government expenses this year were about $97 million, total business expenses were just over $45 million. The total revenue for the city combined was approximately $170 million," said Mark Stair, senior audit manager with Hood & Associates CPAs. "That leads to a change in net position of $68 million. So that's an increase, which is the direction you want to be going."

The city's balance sheet also shows it's in a strong position to meet its short-term financial responsibilities within the next 12 months. Assets totaled $141.5 million against $27.5 million in liabilities, leaving the city's fund balance at $113 million.

All in all, the city reported total assets of $739 million against liabilities of $369 million, creating a strong net position around $390 million when factoring in deferred expenses. 

The audit did offer some recommendations for the city, including boosting the number of employees that are cross-trained to ensure certain operations and tasks can be covered when needed.

News-Press NOW will update this story.