FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Springfield City Council received an “unmodified” (the highest level given) opinion on the City’s financial statement audit today from the City’s independent auditing firm, BKD. The equity of the City at the close of the most recent fiscal year was $798 million. This is also referred to as net position. There was a positive change in that net position, increasing $43.8 million over last year. The primary reasons for the positive change is an increase of $18 million in investment in capital assets and $12 million increase in the equity of the enterprise funds. The City's net investment in capital assets, such as buildings, roads and sewer system is $598 million. The fund balance of the General Fund is $25.8 million – a slight increase from last year. Some of these funds are restricted; the remaining constitutes the City’s “rainy day” fund. This is within the Council-established reserve goal of 20 percent of FY15 budget. “What this tells you is that you are prudently managing your finances, not spending more than what you have coming in,” explained Rachel Dwiggins, BKD partner. BKD also audited compliance of the City's grant programs. In FY 2015, the City received $16.4 million of grant funds. The Single Audit of Grant Funds also received an unmodified opinion. The auditor's found no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses when reviewing the City's compliance with the major federal grant programs. “The audit went extremely well this year. The finance team was extremely responsive to us and helpful,” Dwiggins said. There were no findings reported as a result of the testing of federal funds for a second year in a row, which moved the organization into a lower risk category. BKD also prepared a peer benchmarking report comparing Springfield financial data to 14 other cities. One striking statistic is the breakdown of governmental revenue sources,” said City Manager Greg Burris. “The majority of Springfield’s governmental activities revenue comes from sales tax (68%), which is a volatile revenue source. Many other cities have higher percentages of their budgets coming from more stable sources of revenue, such as property tax. Considering that we rely so heavily on sales tax projections, I think it speaks volumes about how well our organization does at budget forecasting and managing our revenue and expenses.” The audit is required under the City Charter. A full copy of the report is available at the link below. The Finance Department has received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence on Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers' Association for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the 38th consecutive year. The department also received the GFOA Distinguished Budget Award for its budget presentation for an eighth consecutive year. Three judges evaluate 35 separate elements of the budget document to assess its presentation. # # # For more information, contact: Cora Scott, Director of Public Information & Civic Engagement, 417-864-1009 (office) | 417-380-3352 (cell), [email protected]