|Photo by Emma Delk| Moundsville Council members and City Attorney Thomas White review the city's 2024 financial year report created by Kozicki, Hughes & Tickerhoof Certified Public Accountants. From left, At-Large Councilman Don DeWitt, At-Large Councilman Randy Chamberlain, Ward 1 Councilman Denny Hall and City Attorney Thomas White.

Moundsville council members received an overview of the city’s long-term and short-term financial statements for 2024 from an accounting firm during the Tuesday, Jan. 7 council meeting.

Jayetee Herron, a CPA with Kozicki, Hughes & Tickerhoof Certified Public Accountants, reviewed the highlights of the 68-page financial report for council members. The report combined all of the city’s funds, including general funds, ARPA funds, coal severance funds and fiduciary pension plan funds, as well as Water Department funds and Sanitary & Stormwater Department funds.

Herron said the accounting firm created the report with representatives from the Water Department and the Sanitary & Stormwater Department and all Finance Department employees. The report took about six months to create, as the firm had to collect various types of data from professionals involved with city funds.

Herron stressed the report was not an audit but a compilation of the city’s financial statements. These financial statements included two balance sheets: the city’s long-term financial statements and the city’s short-term financial statements.

The long-term balance sheet included the city’s fixed assets, which are depreciated over their useful lives. The government activity included in the long-term balance sheet was the city’s general fund, ARPA financial fund and the new opioid settlement fund. The total assets of those funds were $34 million.

The long-term balance sheet also included the city’s business-type activities, which combined the Water Department funds and Sanitary & Storm Department funds. The business-type activity assets totaled $31 million.

Herron then reviewed the city’s short-term balance sheet, which she noted the council members would be “more familiar with” as they are “more budget-based-type financial statements.” She said these short-term financial statements provide the city’s “current” revenue activity that does not impact long-term fixed assets or the city’s long-term liabilities and funds.

The short-term balance sheet included details of the city’s general fund, coal severance fund, ARPA fund and opioid balance. The short-term assets of governmental activities totaled almost $18 million.

“You can really see the specifics on which funds have what cash and which ones have more receivables [on the short-term balance sheet],” Herron said. “This is what you’re used to working with and could possibly be available to you within 60 days.”

The last balance sheet Herron reviewed with the council was the fiduciary fund, which includes the Moundsville Police pension fund and the Moundsville Fire Department pension fund. These funds totaled about $8 million.

The financial review also included supplementary information, including the value of police and fire pension funds and any cost-sharing funds the city is involved in. The report also included grant reports detailing the city’s state expenditures and their origins.