South Carolina § 5-7-240 - Municipal audits.

§ 5-7-240. Municipal audits.

(A) The council of each municipality having total recurring revenues at or above the threshold in Section 5-7-240(D) shall provide for an annual audit of financial statements. The council may, without requiring competitive bids, designate a certified public accountant or public accounting firm annually or for a period not exceeding four years, provided, that the designation for any particular fiscal year shall be made no later than thirty days after the beginning of such fiscal year.

(B) The council of each municipality having total recurring revenues below the threshold in Section 5-7-240(D) may elect to provide for either an audit of financial statements or a compilation of financial statements in lieu of an audit as follows:

(1) annually for municipalities that have a court system; or

(2) at least once every three years for municipalities that do not have a court system.

(C) The audit or compilation must be performed by an independent certified public accountant or a firm of certified public accountants. The report of the audit or compilation shall be made available for public inspection. Financial statements of municipalities with a court system must include the requirements of Section 14-1-208.

A municipality that exceeds the threshold in the current fiscal year but was below the threshold in the previous fiscal year must begin submitting audited financial statements annually beginning no later than the fiscal year following the year in which its total revenues exceed the threshold.

(D) Beginning with the municipality fiscal year which begins after January 1, 2024, the reporting threshold is $500,000 of the total recurring revenue of a municipality. As soon as practicable at the beginning of each subsequent calendar year, the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office must determine the increase or decrease in the ratio of the Consumer Price Index to the index as of December 31 of the previous year and the threshold must be increased accordingly. If the average of the twelve-month consumer price index experiences a negative percentage, the average is deemed to be zero. For purposes of this subsection, "Consumer Price Index" means the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers as published by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

HISTORY: 1962 Code SECTION 47-53; 1975 (59) 692; 1977 Act No. 109; 2023 Act No. 71 (S.31), SECTION 1, eff June 7, 2023.

Effect of Amendment

2023 Act No. 71, SECTION 1, rewrote the section.