City of
Cotati
Cotati, California
Auditors’ Communication with Those
Charged With Governance
For the year ended June 30, 2023
To the Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
of the City of Cotati
Cotati, California
We have audited the financial statements of the City of Cotati (City) as of and for the years ended June 30, 2023, and have issued our report thereon dated January 26, 2024. Professional standards require that we advise you of the following matters relating to our audit.
Our Responsibility in Relation to the Financial Statement Audit As communicated in our engagement letter dated March 23, 2023, our responsibility, as described by professional standards, is to form and express an opinion(s) about whether the financial statements that have been prepared by management with your oversight are presented fairly, in all material respects, in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Our audit of the financial statements does not relieve you or management of your respective responsibilities.
Our responsibility, as prescribed by professional standards, is to plan and perform our audit to obtain reasonable, rather than absolute, assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit of financial statements includes consideration of internal control over financial reporting as a basis for designing audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity’s internal control over financial reporting.
Accordingly, as part of our audit, we considered the internal control of the City solely for the purpose of determining our audit procedures and not to provide any assurance concerning such internal control.
We are also responsible for communicating significant matters related to the audit that are, in our professional judgment, relevant to your responsibilities in overseeing the financial reporting process. However, we are not required to design procedures for the purpose of identifying other matters to communicate to you.
Planned Scope and Timing of the Audit
We conducted our audit consistent with the planned scope and timing we previously communicated to you.
Compliance with All Ethics Requirements Regarding Independence The engagement team, others in our firm, as appropriate, our firm, and our network firms have complied with all relevant ethical requirements regarding independence.
Significant Risks Identified
We have identified the following significant risks:
Risk of management override of internal controls – A risk of management override of internal controls exists at any entity where management can change or decide not to perform that entity’s internal controls.
Revenue recognition risk – Errors in revenue recognition can affect bond covenant ratios and the net position of the City.
To the Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
of the City of Cotati
Cotati, California
Qualitative Aspects of the Entity’s Significant Accounting Practices Significant Accounting Policies
Management has the responsibility to select and use appropriate accounting policies. A summary of the significant accounting policies adopted by the City is included in Note 1 to the financial statements. There have been no initial selection of accounting policies and no changes in significant accounting policies or their application during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023. No matters have come to our attention that would require us, under professional standards, to inform you about (1) the methods used to account for significant unusual transactions and (2) the effect of significant accounting policies in controversial or emerging areas for which there is a lack of authoritative guidance or consensus.
Significant Accounting Estimates
Accounting estimates are an integral part of the financial statements prepared by management and are based on management’s current judgments. Those judgments are normally based on knowledge and experience about past and current events and assumptions about future events. Certain accounting estimates are particularly sensitive because of their significance to the financial statements and because of the possibility that future events affecting them may differ markedly from management’s current judgments.
The most sensitive accounting estimates affecting the financial statements are capital asset depreciation and useful life, investment valuations, allowance for uncollectible accounts, claim liabilities, the other postemployment benefits (OPEB) plan and the pension plan assumptions.
Management’s estimate of capital asset depreciation and useful life, investment valuations, allowance for uncollectible accounts, claim liabilities, the OPEB plan and the pension plan assumptions are based on historical useful lives of such assets, and actuarial assumptions, respectively. We evaluated the key factors and assumptions used to develop the estimate of capital assets depreciation and useful life, and the pension plan assumptions and determined that they are reasonable in relation to the basic financial statements taken as a whole and in relation to the applicable opinion units.
Financial Statement Disclosures
Certain financial statement disclosures involve significant judgment and are particularly sensitive because of their significance to financial statement users. The most sensitive disclosures affecting the City’s financial statements relate to:
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Cash and Investments
Capital Assets
Employee Retirement Plans
Other Postemployment Benefits (OPEB) Plan
Commitments and Contingencies
Successor Agency
Significant Difficulties Encountered during the Audit
We encountered no significant difficulties in dealing with management relating to the performance of the audit.
To the Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
of the City of Cotati
Cotati, California
Uncorrected and Corrected Misstatements
For purposes of this communication, professional standards also require us to accumulate all known and likely misstatements identified during the audit, other than those that we believe are trivial, and communicate them to the appropriate level of management. Further, professional standards require us to also communicate the effect of uncorrected misstatements related to prior periods on the relevant classes of transactions, account balances or disclosures, and the financial statements as a whole and each applicable opinion unit. Uncorrected misstatements or matters underlying those uncorrected misstatements could potentially cause future-period financial statements to be materially misstated, even though the uncorrected misstatements are immaterial to the financial statements currently under audit.
In addition, professional standards require us to communicate to you all material, corrected misstatements that were brought to the attention of management as a result of our audit procedures. None of the misstatements identified by us as a result of our audit procedures and corrected by management were material, either individually or in the aggregate, to the financial statements taken as a whole or applicable opinion units.
Disagreements with Management
For purposes of this letter, professional standards define a disagreement with management as a matter, whether or not resolved to our satisfaction, concerning a financial accounting, reporting, or auditing matter, which could be significant to the City’s financial statements or the auditor’s report. No such disagreements arose during the course of the audit.
Representations Requested from Management
We have requested certain written representations from management, which are included in the attached letter dated January 26, 2024.
Management’s Consultations with Other Accountants
In some cases, management may decide to consult with other accountants about auditing and accounting matters. Management informed us that, and to our knowledge, there were no consultations with other accountants regarding auditing and accounting matters.
Other Significant Matters, Findings, or Issues
In the normal course of our professional association with the City, we generally discuss a variety of matters, including the application of accounting principles and auditing standards, significant events or transactions that occurred during the year, operating and regulatory conditions affecting the entity, and operational plans and strategies that may affect the risks of material misstatement. None of the matters discussed resulted in a condition to our retention as the City’s auditors.
Required Supplementary Information
We applied certain limited procedures to the required supplementary information (RSI) that supplements the basic financial statements. Our procedures consisted of inquiries of management regarding the methods of preparing the information and comparing the information for consistency with management’s responses to our inquiries, the basic financial statements, and other knowledge we obtained during our audit of the basic financial statements. We did not audit the RSI and do not express an opinion or provide any assurance on the RSI.
To the Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
of the City of Cotati
Cotati, California
Supplementary Information
We were engaged to report on the combining and individual fund financial statements and budgetary comparison schedules which accompany the financial statements but are not RSI. With respect to this supplementary information, we made certain inquiries of management and evaluated the form, content, and methods of preparing the information to determine that the information complies with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, the method of preparing it has not changed from the prior period, and the information is appropriate and complete in relation to our audit of the financial statements. We compared and reconciled the supplementary information to the underlying accounting records used to prepare the financial statements or to the financial statements themselves.
Other Information Included in Annual Comprehensive Financial Report Pursuant to professional standards, our responsibility as auditors for the introductory and statistical sections, whether financial or nonfinancial, included in the City’s annual comprehensive financial report, does not extend beyond the information identified in the audit report, and we are not required to perform any procedures to corroborate such other information. However, in accordance with such standards, we have read the information and considered whether such information, or the manner of its presentation, was materially inconsistent with its presentation in the financial statements.
Our responsibility also includes communicating to you any information which we believe is a material misstatement of fact. Nothing came to our attention that caused us to believe that such information, or its manner of presentation, is materially inconsistent with the information, or manner of its presentation, appearing in the financial statements.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of the City Council and management of the City and is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone other than these specified parties.
Badawi & Associates, CPAs
Berkeley, California
January 30, 2024