City audit finds no deficit, cash on hand

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The short take on the Eunice city fiscal status is the balanced sheet is not in a deficit and there was a $415,000 cash gain, according to accountant Shirley Vige at Tuesday’s Board meeting.
Vige, CPA, delivered the results of an annual audit that reflected the city’s operations for the year ended June 30.
“All in all, the city is in good financial status,” he said at the end of his presentation.
The audit found the general fund ended at $415,357, which is down from the 2017 ending balance of $944,335.
Vige noted the city spent about $314,000 on two new splash pads and bought two new fire trucks costing about $700,000 during the fiscal year.
General fund revenues in 2018 were $3,073,504, up $65,422 from 2017 revenues.
Expenses were $8,094,011, up $760,214 from 2017 expenses.
The city’s sales tax funds totaled $5,951,964, up $216,087 from 2017’s total.
Vige said about $4.3 million in the sales tax fund is dedicated to capital outlay. About $1 million is unrestricted for the general fund expenses and there is about $500,000 in the fund dedicated to sewer outlays.
The city collects two 1 percent sales taxes each generating about a $2.4 million a year, he said. The sewer fund sales tax is 0.2 percent.
The city is allowed to use up to 10 percent of the capital outlay dedicated fund for the library, municipal employee salaries and emergency expenses.
The city’s net funds ended with $6,286,999, down $484,366 from the total in 2017.
The audit had four findings.
One is about the lack of adequate segregation of functions within the accounting system. It is a repeat finding and explained by the lack of staff. The audit found that it would not be cost effective to completely segregate the duties in the accounting system.
The city’s expenditures in the sales tax fund and St. Landry & Acadia Fire District Fund exceeded the budget by 5 percent. The recommendation is the city amend its budget when changes of 5 percent or more occur. The city agreed to amend the budget when needed. The finding is repeated from a previous year.
The third finding is the city owes $33,209 in sales tax to the state for gas sales from 2016 to 2018. The audit recommended that the city file monthly sales tax reports to the state. The audit stated the clerk was unaware it was her duty to file the sales tax report and remit payments. The city agreed to correct the finding. It was a repeat finding.
It was found in 2017 that the police chief used $539 for funeral flowers, which is prohibited by state law. The finding has been cleared.
A new section of the audit test adherence to agreed-upon procedures. Variances were found in the following:
— Bank reconciliations are not prepared within two months of the related bank statement closing date.
— The bank reconciliations for all accounts did not have evidence of management review.
— There is no evidence of management’s documentation of research for items that have been outstanding for more than 12 months from the statement closing date.
— There were two employee files that included change of status form with no authorized signature.
— Of five randomly selected employees/officials none of them completed the required one hour of ethics training during the fiscal year.
Other business at the meeting included:
— Show cause hearings were approved for 411 S. 10th St., 1241 Gregg St. and 320 Jelks St.
— A SLEMCO franchise agreement was approved. Mayor Scott Fontenot said there are two SLEMCO customers in the city limits.
— Introduced an ordinance about trash fires.
— Approved a liquor license for Patrice Jackson doing business at Pizza Hut.
— Accepted the street improvement project as complete.