Audit findings, sculpture go to city supervisors

Carson City has received a “clean” year-end audit, according to materials released for Thursday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.

The meeting starts at 8:30 a.m. in the board room of the community center, 851 E. William St. Supervisors will review the findings of an independent audit conducted by HintonBurdick CPAs & Advisors for the last fiscal year, which ended June 30. The audit is required by state law, and supervisors will be asked to accept the city’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR).

The report can be viewed online: https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/2336580/2023_ACFR__FINAL_.pdf.

HintonBurdick gave the city an unmodified or “clean” opinion, concluding the city’s financial statements for the past fiscal year were accurate and “in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.”

The ACFR shows the city with a positive net position for the last fiscal year of roughly $503.5 million. For governmental activities, the net position was about $331.9 million. For business-related activities (user-generated revenue), the net position was about $171.7 million. Long-term outstanding debt at the end of the fiscal year totaled about $156.1 million, down nearly $8 million from the prior year.

As noted in the report, there were two budget violations of expenditures exceeding appropriations: a total of $53,949 in the Sanitation Function of the General Fund, and $449 in the Stormwater Fund.

“In the Sanitation Function, excess expenditures were spent to keep old equipment operational, as the delivery period of the new equipment was twice as long as originally anticipated,” reads the ACFR. “The Stormwater Fund was not budgeted appropriately for depreciation and will be adjusted in future years.”

Also noted is the city’s Group Medical Insurance Fund that had a negative net position of $154,690. This is due to retirement and other post-employment benefits being counted as liabilities per GASB practices (Governmental Accounting Standards Board).

Overall, the city has been recognized for excellence in financial reporting.

“The city has received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association for the last 33 years, and the Finance Department believes this report continues to meet the requirements of the program,” according to a staff report.

In other action:

• Supervisors will weigh — not literally — a proposed sculpture for the roundabout at South Carson and South Stewart streets.

In November, after a months-long selection process and with a budget of about $200,000, the city’s Cultural Commission recommended approval of “Sense of Place” by artist Karen Yank.

Yank’s sculpture would be 20 feet tall, 4,000 pounds, and would include various emblems made of stainless and Corten steel.

The other finalists for the project were artists Curtis Pittman and Michael Szabo.

• Supervisors will consider a proposed contract between NV Energy and Carson City through which the Carson City Fire Department would provide “wildland fuel mitigation around NV Energy infrastructure, fire standby services and disaster response on a time-and-materials basis using set personnel and equipment rates,” according to the agenda.

Not to exceed $6.5 million, the contract would run from Jan. 1, 2024, to Dec. 31, 2026. The agreement stems from a state grant program and would keep Carson’s wildland crew funded, according to a staff report.

“The contract will provide continued funding for CCFD’s five full-time wildland fire employees, along with the costs of associated benefits, equipment and other program-related costs,” says a staff summary. “The specific scope of projects to be accomplished during the three-year term will be determined quarterly by CCFD and NV Energy. City costs incurred when performing services under the contract will be reimbursed to the city.”

• Supervisors will consider appointing two members to the Carson City Regional Transportation Commission for two-year terms. Members of RTC also serve on the Carson Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO).

“Reappointment requests were submitted by Lucia Maloney and Gregory Novak. A new application was submitted by Josh Hobson,” says the agenda.

• Supervisors will consider the appointment of one member to the Carson City Culture and Tourism Authority as a representative for the hotel/motel industry for a two-year term.

“A member has resigned creating a vacancy for one of the hotel/motel industry positions. New applications were received from Sandra Nagel, Daman Baath and Christopher Degenova,” according to the agenda.

• Supervisors will convene as the Board of Health and hear, among other items, a presentation on Carson City Health and Human Services’ tobacco prevention program.

The agenda says the presentation will include “program goals, statistics on tobacco use and vaping among Nevada youth and local and national policies and laws.”