Gainesville makes major progress in addressing 2022 State Audit

Published on October 07, 2023

At the 18-month review mark, all findings brought forward by the Florida Auditor General in January 2022 show progressive action, as the momentum and hard work the City of Gainesville invested in making improvements is apparent.

Staff has worked across a number of departments over a period of many months to resolve areas of concern. The audit evaluated operational items ranging from Ironwood Golf Course to the city’s hiring policies.

There are four categories for marking the level of progress in addressing findings. These levels are: corrected, partially corrected, no occasion to correct, and not corrected. Of the 18 findings listed in the Operational Audit, eight are now marked as corrected; four are marked as no occasion to correct, and the remaining six are partially corrected and on track for full resolution in 2024.

The most significant findings revolved around Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU), Reichert House Youth Academy and the city’s financial reporting.

The most pressing GRU item was in relation to the level of debt carried by the utility. This item is partially corrected. Staff will continue to work to address GRU debt levels with the GRU Authority. An additional item, which has been marked as corrected, involved the General Fund Transfer (GFT), now known as the Government Services Contribution (GSC). The Gainesville City Commission instituted a formula-based GSC in April 2023 and reduced the contribution from $34.3 million in Fiscal Year 2023 to $15.3 million in Fiscal Year 2024, a reduction of $19 million or 55.4 percent.

Reichert House Youth Academy represented a second group of items in the audit report with five findings related to management and oversight, including financial reporting involving outside agencies. Gainesville City Manager Cynthia W. Curry determined the best course of action was to discontinue the city’s leading role in Reichert House. Four of these findings were marked as no occasion to correct and one finding was marked as corrected.

General Government’s financial reporting practices was the third major item from the Auditor General’s report. Although marked as partially corrected, the Department of Financial Services has worked diligently to make improvements in this area over the last 18 months.

City Manager Curry, who arrived in November 2021, escalated the findings as a critical priority to the City Commission. Since that time, General Government has hired a CPA-credentialed finance director and controller, two senior accountants, an internal control manager, internal control specialist, grant fiscal coordinator, two procurement specialists, and a financial systems architect. The department has also strengthened operating procedures and increased opportunities for staff training and development.

In addition, General Government’s annual financial audits are up to date. Progress is shown in the number of outstanding audit findings, which have been reduced from six in Fiscal Year 2020 to four in Fiscal Year 2021 to two in Fiscal Year 2022. The Fiscal Year 2022 audit received a clean report with no new findings. The only two remaining findings — held over from the Fiscal Year 2020 annual audit — have been rectified but General Government anticipates will be marked as corrected once the Fiscal Year 2023 external annual audit is finalized by March 2024.

“I am grateful and proud of our city team for aggressively addressing the findings,” said Mayor Harvey Ward Jr. “I am hopeful that, when I appear again before JLAC to represent the city later this month, they will see that we are invested in fully addressing all audit findings.”

On October 5, 2023, the State Auditor General transmitted to the city the list of 18 preliminary and tentative audit findings and recommendations that may be included in a report on the operational audit of the City of Gainesville. The list can be found through this link.