The latest audit of the city of Benton Harbor has come in clean and with no findings.
At a meeting this week, CPA Paul Matz with accounting firm Rehmann told city commissioners the books for the fiscal year ending in June of 2024 are in good order.
“As far as the report that we issued this year, it was the unmodified, clean audit opinion, which is the audit opinion you want to achieve during the audit,” Matz said. “Yes, we believe these financial statements are accurately stated in all material respects.”
Matz said overall government revenues for the year came out to $18 million, while expenditures were $18.3 million. That led to a reduction of the fund balance, or essentially, the city’s savings.
“The general fund had a current year decrease in fund balance of about $955,000, bringing that fund balance at the end of fiscal year 2024 to $4,384,406.”
Matz said the utilities fund had an operating loss of about $912,000, although it did receive a great deal in grant support. The utilities fund has troubled the city for a few years now, ever since residents stopped paying their water bills during the lead crisis. With the crisis now over, most are paying again and the city has resumed collections. The fund has been gradually recovering.
Mayor Marcus Muhammad asked Matz if he saw any sign of “cooking the books” or red flags during the audit, and Matz said he saw nothing of the sort.
