Town of Woodside May 2019

TOWN OF WOODSIDE Audit Report SPECIAL GAS TAX STREET IMPROVEMENT FUND July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017 BETTY T. YEE California State Controller May 2019 BETTY T. YEE California State Controller May 9, 2019 Cindy Safe, Administrative Services Manager Town of Woodside 2955 Woodside Road Woodside, CA 94062 Dear Ms. Safe: The State Controller’s Office audited the Town of Woodside’s Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund to determine whether the town accounted for and expended its Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund in compliance with requirements for the period of July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017. Our audit found that the town accounted for and expended its Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund in compliance with requirements, and that no adjustment to the fund is required. If you have any questions, please contact Efren Loste, Chief, Local Government Audits Bureau, by telephone at (916) 324-7226. Sincerely, Original signed by JIM L. SPANO, CPA Chief, Division of Audits JLS/as cc: Chris Shaw, Mayor Town of Woodside Town of Woodside Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund Contents Audit Report Summary ............................................................................................................................ 1 Background ........................................................................................................................ 1 Objective, Scope, and Methodology ................................................................................. 1 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 3 Follow-up on Prior Audit Findings .................................................................................. 3 Views of Responsible Officials .......................................................................................... 3 Restricted Use .................................................................................................................... 3 Schedule—Reconciliation of Fund Balance ......................................................................... 4 Town of Woodside Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund Audit Report Summary The State Controller’s Office (SCO) audited the Town of Woodside’s Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund to determine whether the town accounted for and expended its Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund in compliance with requirements for the period of July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017. Our audit found that the town accounted for and expended its Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund in compliance with requirements, and that no adjustment to the fund is required. Background The State apportions funds monthly from the Highway Users Tax Account (HUTA) in the Transportation Tax Fund to cities1 and counties for the construction, maintenance, and operation of local streets and roads. The highway users taxes derive from state taxes on the sale of motor vehicle fuels. In accordance with Streets and Highways Code, cities must establish individual Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Funds for the deposit of their HUTA fund apportionments. Additionally, cities must expend their HUTA fund apportionments only for street-related purposes in accordance with Article XIX of the California Constitution and Streets and Highways Code. We conducted our audit of the town’s Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund under the authority of Government Code section 12410. Objective, Scope, Our audit objective was to determine whether the town accounted for and and Methodology expended its Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund in compliance with Article XIX of the California Constitution and Streets and Highways Code. The audit period was July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017. To achieve our objective, we:  Gained a limited understanding of internal controls that would have an effect on the reliability of the accounting records of the Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund by interviewing key personnel, completing an internal control questionnaire, and reviewing the town’s organization chart;  Conducted a risk assessment to determine the nature, timing, and extent of substantive testing;  Performed analytical procedures to determine and explain the existence of unusual or unexpected account balances;  Verified the accuracy of fund balances by performing a fund balance reconciliation for the period of July 1, 2003, through June 30, 2016, 1Includes towns. -1- Town of Woodside Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund and by recalculating the trial balance for the period of July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017;  Verified that the components of and changes to fund balances were properly computed, described, classified, and disclosed by scheduling and analyzing the Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund account balances;  Reconciled the fund revenue recorded in the city ledger to the balance reported in the SCO’s apportionment schedule for fiscal year 2016-17 to determine whether HUTA apportionments received by the town were completely accounted for;  Analyzed the system used to allocate interest and determined whether the interest revenue allocated to the Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund was fair and equitable, by interviewing key personnel and recalculating all interest allocations for the audit period;  Reviewed the fund cash and receivables accounts for unauthorized borrowing to determine whether unexpended HUTA funds were available for future street-related expenditures and protected from impairment; and  Verified that the expenditures incurred during the audit period were supported by proper documentation and eligible in accordance with the applicable criteria, by testing all expenditure transactions that were equal to or greater than the significant item amount (calculated based on materiality threshold), and judgmentally selecting non-statistical samples of other transactions for the following categories: o Labor – We tested $74,357 of $121,309. o Transfers – We tested all $38,000. For the selected samples, errors found, if any, were not projected to the intended (total) population. We did not audit the town’s financial statements. We limited our audit scope to planning and performing audit procedures necessary to obtain reasonable assurance that the town accounted for and expended its Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund in accordance with the criteria. We considered the town’s internal controls only to the extent necessary to plan the audit. We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objective. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objective. -2- Town of Woodside Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund Conclusion Our audit found that the Town of Woodside accounted for and expended its Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund in compliance with Article XIX of the California Constitution and Streets and Highways Code for the period of July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017. Follow-up on Prior Our prior audit report for the period of July 1, 2002, through June 30, Audit Findings 2003, issued on March 12, 2004, disclosed no findings. Views of We discussed the audit results with town representatives during an exit conference on April 11, 2019. Cindy Safe, Administrative Services Responsible Manager, agreed with the audit results. Ms. Safe further agreed that a draft Officials audit report was not necessary and that the audit report could be issued as final. Restricted Use This audit report is solely for the information and use of the Town of Woodside and the SCO; it is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone other than these specified parties. This restriction is not intended to limit distribution of this audit report, which is a matter of public record and is available on the SCO website at www.sco.ca.gov. Original signed by JIM L. SPANO, CPA Chief, Division of Audits May 9, 2019 -3- Town of Woodside Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund Schedule— Reconciliation of Fund Balance July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017 Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund1 Beginning fund balance per town $ 94,213 Revenues 116,988 Total funds available 211,201 Expenditures (159,308) Ending fund balance per town $ 51,893 Ending fund balance per audit $ 51,893 ___________________________ 1Cities receive apportionments from the State HUTA, pursuant to Streets and Highways Code sections 2103, 2105, 2106, 2107, and 2107.5. The basis of the apportionments varies, but the money may be used for any street-related purpose. Streets and Highways Code section 2107.5 restricts apportionments to administration and engineering expenditures, except for cities with populations of fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. Those cities may use the funds for rights-of-way and for the construction of street systems. Cities must establish individual Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Funds for the deposit of their HUTA fund apportionments. -4- State Controller’s Office Division of Audits Post Office Box 942850 Sacramento, CA 94250 http://www.sco.ca.gov S18-GTA-0006