May 12—ASHLAND — The city of Ashland had a clean audit for the 2022 fiscal year, however there were eight findings discovered in the administrations of the Section 8 voucher program for public housing.

The eight findings in the audit related to the Housing Choice Voucher Program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered in the city by the Department of Community and Economic Development.

Per the audit report, none of the findings were listed as "significant deficiencies" but did expose issues with how the program is administered.

Chris Pullem, the director of CED, said there was a complete turnover in the department's Section 8 program during the last fiscal year and errors were made as folks were trained.

"It's a special set of rules and regulations — you have to train people on the job," he said. "You can't go out and find a public housing administrator on the street. It's a very niche job."

One finding showed more than $100,000 was not reported in HUD's Voucher Management System for January and February 2022. Pullem said prior to March 2022, the VMS did not have that option to input.

Other issues include accidental over-payments to landlords (which were promptly recovered, according to Pullem), errors in paperwork filed with HUD and giving one tenant a four-day notice on a rent increase when it should've been 30 days.

Pullem said these issues have been taken care of and, as the staff is trained, he anticipates it won't be an issue again.

Outside those findings, auditor Anthony Workman, of Kelley Galloway Smith Goolsby, said the city's finances were healthy during a brief presentation to the city commission Thursday.

"There is no issue with the city failing," he said. "That's not the case here."

According to the report, the overall net position of the city is in the black, with a combined total between the government fund and the "business-type activities fund" of $49.6 million as of June 30, 2022.

The net position is determined by subtracting the liabilities (obligations owed by the city like pension, bonds) and deferred inflows of resources (expected money they hadn't got yet — like grants and what not) from the total number of assets (city-owned property, taxes, collection of water and sewer funds, fees, etc.).

The 2022 fiscal year's total net position was a nearly $2 million decrease from the 2021 fiscal year, which the audit report chalked up to mediocre performance in the downtown TIFF district and expenses related to bonds and infrastructure.

"Business-like activities," primarily consists of the utility fund, but also the bus fund, the recreation fund and the cemetery fund, saw a $2.4 million bump, largely due to the $1.8 million valuation of the parking garage that was donated to the city mere weeks before the close of the fiscal year.

The government funds, however, saw the $1.9 million decrease year over year in its net position.

Workman said a switch in health insurance a few years ago has over the long term seen savings for the city, and despite a slight rise in the 2022 fiscal year, the overall trend is down compared to five years ago.

Tony Grubb, the city's finance director, said next year there's an expected $400,000 decrease in what the city will pay into the state retirement system.

(606) 326-2653 — henry@dailyindependent.com