Audit for Fiscal Year 2023-24 Finally Released

by Kathy Savolt -

At an April 14, 2025 meeting of the Board of Trustees (BOT), the Village’s auditors finally released the audit of the Village’s finances for the fiscal year ending May 30, 2024.  This comes three months after the usual release date and at a time when the new administration is struggling with a budget for next fiscal year which begins June 1st.

Although the annual audit report to the BOT and community is usually given at a regular session of the BOT, this one was delivered at the work session.  The auditors from PKF O’Connor Davies concluded that the Village is in good financial condition.  See presentation HERE.

General Fund Summary

This review and summary are of the General Fund only.  This is the Fund used for all overall operating expenses.  The final numbers show that the Village ended that fiscal year with revenues higher than expenses and that the excess was added to the fund balance.  See report HERE. An explanation of the funds utilized by the Village can be found in our previous article on the 2022-23 audit HERE.

FY 2023-2024 Final Revenue and Expenses

				Variance
	Final Budget	Actual	$	%
Revenue	$43,213,857	$45,767,958	$2,554,101	5.9%
Expenditures	50,589,691	45,714,561	(4,875,130)	-9.6%
Excess	($7,375,834)	$53,397

As the chart shows revenues came in almost 6% higher than budget while expenditures were almost 10% less than budget.

The $53,397 excess was added to the year end fund balance bringing the total to $18,317,057.  The auditors found this to be an appropriate level for the fund balance.

A Closer Look

While the overall picture is positive, some details are concerning and need a closer look.

Federal Disaster Relief – like the previous fiscal year (2022-23), the Village would have ended the year in a deficit position if Federal grant monies had not been received.  The Village received $1,746,591 in Federal aid in FY 2024 which provided the $53,397 excess of revenues over expenditures.

Increase in Spending – the auditors categorize expenditures into broad categories such as general government support, public safety, and community and recreation.  A review of FY 2024 spending vs. 2023 spending shows a 25% increase in general government support spending ($8,196,688 vs $6,572,744).  A more detailed analysis of each department would have to be undertaken to determine the exact causes, but it is known that the previous administration gave significant salary increases to certain individuals and purchased many new vehicles for employees.  During the same period, the police expenditure (largest department) went down by 3%.

Departmental Income – Actual departmental revenue came in at just over $4 million against a budget of $4.5 million – a shortfall of 11%.  While this does not seem like a large amount of money, it highlights one of the budget practices of the former administration.  Several new initiatives were included as revenue in the budget, but the programs were either not initiated or promoted.  These include boat storage at Harbor Island, a new rental inspection program with fees, and new recreation programs.  Although revenue was not realized in FY 2024, these programs and the revenue carried over to the current budget (FY 2025) and became an issue for the new administration as they worked to develop a realistic budget for FY 2025-26.  See article HERE.

Capital Expenditures over Budget – the auditors highlighted eleven capital projects where expenditures exceeded their budgets approved by the BOT.  These overages total $1.1 million and hopefully the changes in staffing will address this issue.