Audit report: Carbon County’s financial picture continued to deteriorate in 2017

By Matt Ward – Sun Advocate Editor

Carbon County commissioners are set to receive a 2017 audit report from outside auditors Smuin, Rich & Marsing at today’s regular commission meeting.
The audit report covers the county’s financial picture as of Dec. 31, 2017.
The report was completed in July and covers a range of detailed financial information.
A number of items in the report suggest the county’s financial picture deteriorated somewhat last year.
For example, the county’s assets exceeded its liabilities by $146,043,224 in 2017 compared to $152,839,513 in 2016, a decrease of $6,796,289 in the county’s net position. The vast majority of the county’s assets are land holdings, buildings, roads, equipment and such.
The county’s net position increased every year from 2012 to 2015 before beginning to decline in 2016, according to similar audit reports covering the last five years.
A look at the revenue and expense snapshot from the county’s government activities shows that expenses continued to outstrip revenue in 2017–$33,934,505 in expenses compared to $26,656,551 in revenue. A similar situation unfolded in 2016, but not in the previous four years.
The county’s debt decreased in 2017 from $44,156,093 in obligations in 2016 to $42,310,474 at the end of last year. The vast majority of these obligations are long-term debt in the form of revenue bonds.
Still, a comparison of the county’s annual debt obligations from 2012 to 2017 show a whopping 159 percent increase in the county’s obligations during that time period.
The county’s debt service has grown 100 percent in that time period as well, from $884,445 in 2012, steadily increasing each year to $1,768,925 in 2017.
The amount of funds available to cover the county’s discretionary spending, or unrestricted assets, available to meet obligations to citizens and creditors has dropped over the years.
In 2011, the county had $26 million in unrestricted assets. In 2012 that figure was less than half, about $11 million. That figure held steady in 2013, but fell sharply again to $5.2 million in 2014, rising only slightly to $5.7 million in 2015. In 2017, unrestricted assets amounted to $6.9 million, compared to $5.6 million in 2016.
In a note regarding the area’s financial outlook, the county’s outside auditors cited the local unemployment rate—4.3 percent in 2017—which increased 1.6 percent from the 2016 rate. The audit report noted the poor environment surrounding coal and fossil fuel extraction within the county, which the report states county officials are working to reverse locally by encouraging more such activity.
Auditors noted that the county laid off 10 percent of its workforce in 2017 and continues to look for ways to cut its expenses.
The 2017 audit report, as well as those for numerous years past, are available to the public at https://auditor.utah.gov/audit_reports/.
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