County Appears to be in Best Financial Shape in a Long Time
Fayette County Commissioners Court heard a report from outside auditor Greg Trlicek on the County’s 2024 Financial Audit.
Trlicek gave the County an unqualified, unmodified opinion, on the state of the County’s financial affairs, which he described as a “clean opinion or best opinion that you can get.”
He said the County had a general fund balance of $7,195,028 at the end of 2024, of which $5,762,571 was unassigned or unreserved. Total expenses that year were $22,170,471.
“As auditors, we always say you should have three months of expenses in your reserve,” Trlicek said. “So when you calculate that, take that $22 million and divide it by 12 months, you end up with $1,847,000 a month. Times it by three, and we say an adequate fund balance should be $5,542,617. You have $5,762,571. So we actually got above that three months without having to add anything in.”
This marks the first time in recent memory for the County to reach that benchmark. In 2023, the County fell about $950,000 shy of the goal, resulting in about two and a half months of expenses held in reserve. In 2022, the County was in much worse shape, with just a little over a month’s worth of expenses held in reserve.
“So basically in the last two years you have doubled it and got it up,” Trlicek said.
“I know there’s a lot of questions being asked with the (County) Judge’s race coming up, so if you can say that one more time?” said Pct. 4 Commissioner Drew Brossmann.
As Brossmann referenced, the County’s financial health has been a topic of scrutiny among some of the candidates for Fayette County Judge.
“Why do we need three months of expenses?” Trlicek said. “Because we always tell individuals that, if you can, you try to save money. Unexpected stuff, you know, sales tax, it keeps going up, but it’s got a peak somewhere to where it’s going to start coming down. You’re not going to have that revenue. And then that’s what this reserve fund is for. Same thing on expenses. As I get older, the medical bills go up. So you hope you got something saved or something set up to cover that. And it’s the same thing with the County. You don’t know what kind of unexpected expenses you’re going to have. And that opens with this reserve.
“So we’re not just trying to pile up taxpayers’ money just for a good time,” he added. “We have it here in case we need it somewhere down the line. So that’s why I wanted to make sure I commended everybody on that, because it seems like every meeting I would come to, I’d always, at the end and say, well, the fund balance – we need to try to get it up. And now it’s there.”
A few important factors contributed to the County’s good financial position at the end of 2024. Trlicek noted that the County received more sales tax revenue than the Commissioners Court expected when it set the budget for that year. In addition, County received grant funds in 2024 that were not budgeted, including federal funds from the COVID-19 era American Rescue Plan and state law enforcement grant funds from Senate Bill 22.