Fort Walton Beach — Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, September 30, 2023 — reading text

Resources Police Services Recreation Services and Utility Services 15.25 FTE Services 44.25 FTE 9 FTE 71.17 FTE 69.62 FTE 81 FTE 15.50 FTE 1200 to 1217 & 2000 0500 & 0520 & 0530 0900 0300 & 0320 0800 1000 to 1080 1220-1240 &1300-1380 Utility Administration Building Inspections Accounting Advanced Life Human Resources Uniform Patrol Athletics – Adult & & Permitting Support Youth Fleet & Facilities Auditing Insurance & Risk K-9 Patrol Code Enforcement Fire Suppression Management Recreation Centers GIS/CAD Budgeting Criminal and Programming CDBG Fire Prevention IT Investigations Sanitation Purchasing Grounds Planning Fire Inspection Community Policing/ Maintenance: Parks, Sewer Collections Debt Service & CRA CRA Management Hazardous Materials Right-Of-Way and Stormwater Response Crime Prevention Cemetery Treasury Streets Fire Education Communications Library Utility Billing Water Distribution Records Museum Contingencies & Water Operations Transfers Support Services Golf Club Operations School Crossing Guards Reserve Officers xi  INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT To the Honorable Mayor and City Council Members City of Fort Walton Beach, Florida Opinions We have audited the accompanying financial statements of the governmental activities, the business-type activities, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information of the City of Fort Walton Beach, Florida (the “City”), as of and for the year ended September 30, 2023, and the related notes to the financial statements, which collectively comprise the City’s basic financial statements as listed in the table of contents. In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the respective financial position of the governmental activities, the business-type activities, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information of the City, as of September 30, 2023, and the respective changes in financial position and, where applicable, cash flows thereof, for the year then ended in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Basis for Opinions We conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America and the standards applicable to financial audits contained in Government Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller General of the United States. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditors’ Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statements section of our report. We are required to be independent of the City and to meet our other ethical responsibilities, in accordance with the relevant ethical requirements relating to our audit. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinions. Responsibilities of Management for the Financial Statements Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, and for the design, implementation, and maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, management is required to evaluate whether there are conditions or events, considered in the aggregate, that raise substantial doubt about the City’s ability to continue as a going concern for twelve months beyond the financial statement date, including any currently known information that may raise substantial doubt shortly thereafter. 1 Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statements Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditors’ report that includes our opinions. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not absolute assurance and therefore is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and Government Auditing Standards will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control. Misstatements are considered material if there is a substantial likelihood that, individually or in the aggregate, they would influence the judgment made by a reasonable user based on the financial statements. In performing an audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and Government Auditing Standards, we:  Exercise professional judgment and maintain professional skepticism throughout the audit.  Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, and design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks. Such procedures include examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements.  Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the City’s internal control. Accordingly, no such opinion is expressed.  Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluate the overall presentation of the financial statements.  Conclude whether, in our judgment, there are conditions or events, considered in the aggregate, that raise substantial doubt about the City’s ability to continue as a going concern for a reasonable period of time. We are required to communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit, significant audit findings, and certain internal control-related matters that we identified during the audit. Required Supplementary Information Accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America require that the management’s discussion and analysis, the budgetary comparison information for the General Fund and Community Redevelopment Agency (special revenue fund), and the schedules related to the pension and OPEB liabilities, contributions, and investment returns, as listed in the table of contents, be presented to supplement the basic financial statements. Such information is the responsibility of management and, although not a part of the basic financial statements, is required by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, who considers it to be an essential part of financial reporting for placing the basic financial statements in an appropriate operational, economic, or historical context. We have applied certain limited procedures to the required supplementary information in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America, which consisted of inquiries of management about the methods of preparing the information and comparing the information for consistency with management’s responses to our inquiries, the basic financial statements, and other knowledge we obtained during our audit of the basic financial statements. We do not express an opinion or provide any assurance on the information because the limited procedures do not provide us with sufficient evidence to express an opinion or provide any assurance. 2 Supplementary Information Our audit was conducted for the purpose of forming opinions on the financial statements that collectively comprise the City’s basic financial statements. The combining and individual nonmajor fund financial statements and schedules and the schedule of expenditures of federal awards and state financial assistance, as required by Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards and Chapter 10.550, Rules of the Florida Auditor General, are presented for purposes of additional analysis and are not a required part of the basic financial statements. Such information is the responsibility of management and was derived from and relates directly to the underlying accounting and other records used to prepare the basic financial statements. The information has been subjected to the auditing procedures applied in the audit of the basic financial statements and certain additional procedures, including comparing and reconciling such information directly to the underlying accounting and other records used to prepare the basic financial statements or to the basic financial statements themselves, and other additional procedures in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. In our opinion, the combining and individual nonmajor fund financial statements and schedules and the schedule of expenditures of federal awards and state financial assistance are fairly stated, in all material respects, in relation to the basic financial statements as a whole. Other Information Management is responsible for the other information included in the annual report.