Audit says Cape County had "Another good year"

Auditors stated 2022 was "another good year" for Cape Girardeau County with no "weaknesses or concerns that need to be conveyed" during a presentation to the County Commission on Thursday, June 29.

Patrick Kintner, an accountant with Stanley, Dirnberger, Hopper and Associates LLC, reported that the county is "sitting on" $83.1 million in financial assets as of the end of fiscal year 2022. He said this amount showed a significant increase over previous years due in large part to American Rescue Plan Act funds received by the county in 2022.

Kintner said the county has $14.8 million in ARPA funds, the majority of which has been earmarked for capital projects such as a emergency operations center building and a new justice center. He said the county only spent an approximate $486,000 of ARPA money in 2022.

Other revenue came from a "generic" $2.4 million increase from sales and property taxes, Kintner said, as well as an increase in interest earnings that were $1.1 million higher than 2021. He said the county earned about $380,000 in interest on ARPA funds received in 2022.

The county had a positive balance of $27.1 million at the end of the 2022 fiscal year that Kintner said would cover all operational funds for the county going forward in fiscal year 2023.

Kintner said the county is well placed to cover upcoming capital expenditures because of transfers of close to $9 million from the general fund to the capital improvements fund.

"We've still been able to maintain a healthy general fund balance," Kintner said. "That is indicative of the increasing funds from sales and property tax revenue. Every increase in expenditure is following the increase in revenues, nothing abnormal or alarming, I'm not concerned by any of that."

In other business, Marybeth Niederkorn, director of the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson, reported the Archive was awarded a grant to purchase a new digital microfilm reader.

Niederkorn said The Missouri Local Records Grant Program awarded the Archive $7,561.36 to purchase the microfilm reader. She said the grant required no match from the county government.

The Archive's existing microfilm and microfiche reader is outdated, and parts to service it are vanishingly difficult to obtain, Niederkorn said. She said the updated microfilm reader will allow patrons to save pages to a flash drive or print if they would like a hard copy.