Auditors from CBIZ presented the Town of Braintree's draft FY2024 annual comprehensive financial report to the Town Council on April 29, reporting an unmodified (clean) audit opinion.

CBIZ representatives said the audit work included on-site fieldwork in June and August and follow-up work after year end; the firm completed testing across revenues, expenditures and federal awards and described the report as in draft form pending final internal quality-control checks and town review. The auditors noted that a significant subsequent event — the town's legal settlement related to a wrongful-conviction matter — was included in the financial statements because of its materiality, with a net recognized settlement amount of $11,900,000 recorded in the report.

Other highlights the auditors cited: the town's OPEB trust balance rose to about $25.8 million at year-end (up from $22.8 million), and the OPEB liability decreased from about $189 million to $170 million, owing to plan investment returns, updated actuarial assumptions and an increased discount rate. The pension liability decreased from about $103 million to $93 million and the pension plan was 71.1% funded in the auditors' report; CBIZ said the statutory funding schedule requires full funding by 2040. The auditors reported FY24 free cash at roughly $5.5 million and a stabilization fund balance of about $4.4 million (reflecting council transfers). The report also lists federal awards and single-audit testing; total federal-award expenditures audited for FY24 were about $4.5 million (down from a higher prior-year amount that included ARPA draws).

Councilors asked for an opportunity to submit consolidated questions to the auditor through town staff; the auditors said they will provide a final report copy when quality-control work is complete. There were no audit findings reported in the draft.

Ending: The auditors expect to finalize the report in the coming weeks after the town and audit firm complete their remaining review steps; councilors were invited to submit clarifying questions to the finance director and to consolidate comments through town staff.