City of Pismo Beach July 2019

CITY OF PISMO BEACH Audit Report SPECIAL GAS TAX STREET IMPROVEMENT FUND July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017 BETTY T. YEE California State Controller July 2019 BETTY T. YEE California State Controller July 8, 2019 James R. Lewis, City Manager City of Pismo Beach 760 Mattie Road Pismo Beach, CA 93449 Dear Mr. Lewis: The State Controller’s Office audited the City of Pismo Beach’s Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund to determine whether the city 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 city 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 Attachment cc: The Honorable Ed Waage Mayor of the City of Pismo Beach Nadia Feeser, Administrative Services Director City of Pismo Beach City of Pismo Beach 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 Attachment—City of Pismo Beach’s Response to Draft Audit Report City of Pismo Beach Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund Audit Report Summary The State Controller’s Office (SCO) audited the City of Pismo Beach’s Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund to determine whether the city 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 city 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 city’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 city 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 city’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; 1Includes towns. -1- City of Pismo Beach Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund  Verified the accuracy of fund balances by performing a fund balance reconciliation for the period of July 1, 2002, through June 30, 2016, 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 city were completely accounted for;  Reviewed city accruals and adjustments for validity and eligibility;  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 liabilities 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 category: o Transfers – We tested $223,648 of $356,483. For the selected sample, errors found, if any, were not projected to the intended (total) population. We did not audit the city’s financial statements. We limited our audit scope to planning and performing audit procedures necessary to obtain reasonable assurance that the city accounted for and expended its Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund in accordance with the criteria. We considered the city’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- City of Pismo Beach Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund Conclusion Our audit found that the City of Pismo Beach 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 The city satisfactorily resolved the findings noted in our prior audit report Audit Findings for the period of July 1, 2001, through June 30, 2002, issued on May 7, 2003. Views of We issued a draft report on March 5, 2019. The draft report included an internal control deficiency observation that was not significant to the audit Responsible objectives but warranted the attention of management. Nadia Feeser, Officials Administrative Services Director, responded by letter dated March 8, 2019 (Attachment). Ms. Feeser subsequently followed up with an email on March 27, 2019, provided supporting documentation to show that the city has adequate policies and procedures in place. As a result, we have removed the noted observation from this final audit report. Restricted Use This audit report is solely for the information and use of the City of Pismo Beach 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 July 8, 2019 -3- City of Pismo Beach 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 city $ 4 53,293 Revenues 1 67,162 Total funds available 6 20,455 Expenditures (356,483) Ending fund balance per city $ 2 63,972 Ending fund balance per audit $ 2 63,972 ___________________________ 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- City of Pismo Beach Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund Attachment— City of Pismo Beach’s Response to Draft Audit Report State Controller’s Office Division of Audits Post Office Box 942850 Sacramento, CA 94250 http://www.sco.ca.gov C18-GTA-0009