City of Parkersburg image.
PARKERSBURG, W. Va.–The City of Parkersburg has received an unmodified audit opinion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021. Additionally, and for the third consecutive year, no findings or other items requiring corrective action were noted on the financial statements or federal programs. Additionally, the City’s financial position continues to improve from year to year, primarily due to the closure of the Police and Fire pension plans to new members in 2017.
This unmodified opinion is a direct result of compliance efforts within the city operations, I applaud Finance Director Eric Jiles for his diligence and commitment to adherence to proper accounting procedures and for the other department heads for their understanding and eagerness to learn and perform their duties in a manner that is both proper and transparent. The public trust is something I take very seriously particularly when it involves our responsibility to properly manage, spend and appropriate public funds I am pleased to receive another clean audit.
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2017, prior to the closure of pension plans, the net pension liability (the “unfunded” portion) was $95,017,861. In the 4 years since the plan closure, the net pension liability has been reduced to $57,878,414 as of June 30, 2021. The primary reasons for the $37,139,447 reduction of the unfunded pension liability are the proper funding of the plans since closure to include benefit payments and liability amortization as well as higher investment returns in recent years.
Overall, the City’s total net position, which is the sum of all assets less liabilities for all funds, has improved from a deficit of $63,702,410 as of June 30, 2017 to a deficit of $18,014,811 as of June 30, 2021. This improvement is offset when considering the receipt of nearly $11 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds in June of 2021 which were unspent and unencumbered as of June 30, 2021.
Without the American Rescue Plan allocation, the reduction of total net position deficit is still nearly $35 million from 2017 to 2021.
The closing of the original police and fire pension plans remains the most impactful and positive improvement to the City’s financial stability; this action will allow for operational and capital improvements for many years to come.
Simultaneously we have further reduced the tax liability on our business community and continued to make improvements to our Public Safety facilities, parks, streets, and stormwater systems. These were all accomplished with collaboration with City Council members both past and present.