The New Hope City Council formally accepted the 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report at its June 13 meeting.

Bill Lauer, from the certified public accounting firm of Malloy, Montague, Karnowski, Radosevich, and Co. (MMKR), provided an overview of the scope of the audit, findings and opinions of the City's records and financial data. MMKR did not identify any deficiencies in internal controls considered to be material weaknesses, there were no instances of non-compliance, they reported no findings, and they encountered no difficulties in dealing with management in performing and completing the audit.

Financial highlights of the report include:

• The City's assets and deferred outflows of resources exceeded its liabilities and deferred inflows of resources at the close of the most recent fiscal year by $96,073,515 (net position). Of this amount, $29,882,377 (unrestricted net position) may be used to meet the City's ongoing obligations to citizens and creditors.
• The City's total net position increased by $11,034,386. This was a result of governmental activities and business-type activities increasing net position by $8,193,901 and $2,840,485, respectively.
• As of the close of the current fiscal year, the City's governmental funds reported combined ending fund balances of $30,054,786, an increase of $2,599,535 in comparison with the prior year. Approximately 22.1 percent of this total amount, $6,646,030, is available for spending at the City's discretion (unassigned fund balance).
• At the end of the current fiscal year, the unassigned fund balance for the General Fund was $8,624,063, or 51.2 percent, of total General Fund 2021 expenditures and transfers out.
• The City's total bonded debt decreased by $4,925,562 (9.1 percent) during the current fiscal year.

The complete report and presentation can be found at newhopemn.gov/finance.