Senate Finance Committee Amendment
S 31 - Session 125 (2023-2024)
Municipal Audit

The Committee on Finance proposes the following amendment (SF-31.CH0001S):

Amend the bill, as and if amended, SECTION 1, Section 5-7-240, by striking the MACROBUTTON NoMacro <> undesignated paragraph and inserting:

(A) , tThe council of each municipality having total recurring revenues at or above the threshold in Section 5-7-240(D) shall provide for an independent annual audit of all financial records and transactions of the municipality and any agency funded in whole by municipal funds and may provide for more frequent audits as it deems necessary. Special audits may be provided for any agency receiving municipal funds as the municipality deems necessary. Such audits shall be made by a certified public accountant or public accountant or firm of such accountants who have no personal interest, direct or indirect, in the fiscal affairs of the municipal government or any of its officers financial statements. The council may, without requiring competitive bids, designate a certified publicsuch accountant or public accounting firm annually or for a period not exceeding four years, provided, that the designation for any particular fiscal year shall be made no later than thirty days after the beginning of such fiscal year. The report of the audit shall be made available for public inspection. The council may in its discretion accept independent audits of municipal agencies and departments and include such audits in its general report of the audit of the municipality.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 1, by striking Section 5-7-240(B) and (C) and inserting:

(B) The council of each municipality having total recurring revenues below the threshold in Section 5-7-240(D) may elect to provide for either an audit of financial statements or a compilation of financial statements in lieu of an audit as follows:

(1) annually for municipalities that have a court system; or

(2) at least once every three years for municipalities that do not have a court system.

(C) The audit or compilation must be performed by an independent certified public accountant or a firm of certified public accountants. The report of the audit or compilation shall be made available for public inspection. Financial statements of municipalities with a court system must include the requirements of Section 14-1-208.

Amend the bill further, SECTION 1, by striking Section 5-7-240(D) and inserting:

(D) Beginning with the municipality fiscal year which begins after January 1, 2024, the reporting threshold is $500,000 of the total recurring revenue of a municipality. As soon as practicable at the beginning of each subsequent calendar year, the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office must determine the increase or decrease in the ratio of the Consumer Price Index to the index as of December 31 of the previous year and the threshold must be increased accordingly. If the average of the twelve-month consumer price index experiences a negative percentage, the average is deemed to be zero. For purposes of this subsection, "Consumer Price Index" means the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers as published by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.