Newberry Receives Clean Audit, Approves Construction Contract for Easton Parking Improvements

NEWBERRY ‒ Commissioners in the City of Newberry received their annual audit report for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2023.  The City had one finding in each the City audit and the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) audit. 

The audit was presented by Barbara Boyd, a partner at Purvis Gray, the City’s contracted audit firm. 

This is the first year that the City has had its CRA separately audited.  The special review was triggered by a statewide law requiring such an audit in any year when the CRA has had $100,000 or more in either expenditures or revenues. 

Newberry received an unmodified opinion, the highest level of assurance auditors provide.

Auditors reviewed internal controls to determine if there are material deficiencies, finding none.  Internal controls are measures taken by the City to ensure the integrity of the city’s finances and transactions, such as requiring multiple signatures on checks, oversight of accounts, and the division of responsibilities across multiple personnel to improve transparency and oversight.

Boyd said the City’s local government investment policies materially complied with Florida law.

Because the City had more than $750,000 in grant funds, Purvis Gray also performed a State single audit to ensure that the City complied with the requirements of major grant programs, finding no internal control issues with respect to those funds.

The only issues cited by auditors centered on the City’s building permit process.  As the pace of growth in Newberry has continued to rise, so too have the number of building permits being issued.  In auditing the building permit process, Boyd said of the building permit packages “tested,” auditors found two building permits with incorrect rate type, while another permit had the incorrect valuation, which is used to determine the permit amount.

Boyd said while none of those issues caused any material misstatement, Purvis Gray makes a recommendation that the City’s management go back and evaluate the building permitting process to make sure sound policies and procedures are in place to prevent discrepancies.  

For the City’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), the results were similar to the City’s general audit, garnering a “clean” opinion.  The only issue found during the audit process of the CRA related to the timely transmittal of its budget to the County.  The CRA is funded by tax increment financing from taxes returned to the CRA in part by the County and in part by the City.  Boyd said the City should submit its budget for the CRA to the County within 10 days after its adoption and within 10 days after any amendment to the budget.

The City’s total revenues and expenditures were both up about $1.1 million.  The primary drivers behind increased revenues for the year ending Sept. 30, 2023 was increased property values, a significant uptick in building permit fees, and additional interest income as a result of the City’s investment policies.  As for expenditures, the primary reason for the increase from the prior year to last year was an increase in the number of personnel as well as pay adjustments following a pay study.

City Manager Mike New lauded Assistant City Manager Dallas Lee and his team for keeping the City in compliance while continued growth increase opportunities for missteps.

Also during the April 8 meeting, the Newberry commissioners adopted an investment policy codifying the City’s current investment plan and allow the additional investment of surplus funds as permitted by Florida law.  The objective of the policy is to build the confidence of debtholders for improved bond issuance terms as the City embarks on major projects, including the construction of new City Hall facilities.

The Commission authorized the city manager to execute a contract with Coleman Construction to pave a new parking lot at the Easton Sports Complex.  The majority of the 42 new paved parking spaces will be located directly in front of the Easton Sports Complex.  The project also includes 64 new “stabilized” grass spaces in addition to stormwater improvements to deal with new runoff generated by the paved parking surfaces.  The total cost of the project is estimated at $581,000.  The project will be funded by nearly $448,000 in Wild Spaces Public Places sales tax funds and another $133,000 from the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners.  In addition to the parking project, the City is planning to construct a new gymnasium at the Easton site.

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