Editor’s Note: The information included in the fiscal report below contains information for fiscal year 2019 as it is the most current, complete record. Information for fiscal year 2020 will be available to Catawba citizens as soon as it is complete.

The Nation’s Administrative Services Division has tremendously improved the integrity and sustainability of its financial operations in recent years and continues to work to implement more modernized systems and processes in all the areas that provide support to the primary government. The Administrative Services Division includes all the departments who provide administrative support to the primary government and its operational divisions.

Those areas include:

• Finance/Accounting
• Grants & Compliance
• Procurement/Purchasing
• Human Resources/Personnel
• Information Technology
• Facilities/Maintenance

The primary government of the Nation accounts for all its activities through the use of a robust fund accounting system. This system ensures that all funds received and expended are tracked separately by the specific purpose and activity that they relate to.

The Nation receives more than 90% of its revenue for operations from grant funding supplied through the federal and state governments. Grant funding presents specific reporting requirements for the Nation in (a) how it reflects revenue and expenditures as well as (b) how it handles personnel cost management.

Revenue & Expenditures – Most grants are either (i) “Expense Reimbursement Grants” or (ii) “Advance Payment Grants”. More than 85% of the Nation’s grant funding comes from expense reimbursements grants.

2019 Audit Overview

Our financial statements are presented in conformity with accounting standards established for all primary governments, municipalities, and state and local governments in the US. Those standards are referred to as “GAAP” – generally accepted accounting principles, which are established by the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB). These accounting standards require the financial activity on government-wide statements be separated by those that are governmental activities and business-type activities.

The governmental activities section includes information related to the primary government’s ability to provide services and resources to its citizens. Those cost include but are not limited to: administration, economic development, education, social services, roads and transportation, and indirect (overhead) expenses.

• For the Nation most of this section includes it’s grant revenue and expenditures.

• The Nation continues to see extensive growth in its grant awards.

• The governmental operations have experienced tremendous growth much of this growth is due to the increase in overall grant awards and programs from 2018 to 2019.

• Revenue from the Nation’s governmental activities ended at $7.1 million dollars. This level of revenue from operating and capital grants represents and overall increase of almost 21% for the period ended December 31st, 2019, up by 8 the CATAWBA POST GOVERNMENT UPDATES Grants & compliance STATS Shawnté Canty-Troxel Grants & Compliance Director approximately $1.1 Million Dollars from $5.9 Million in the prior year.

The business type activities section includes information related to units of the government that operate on an “exchange-basis” or “customer-focused” model where good or services are given to the public in exchange for payments. These activities are referred to as “Business-Type Activities” because they are the units of the government that should run like a business. For the Nation it’s business-type activities include:

• Water and Sewer Services
• Planning and Development
• Sanitation and Trash Pick-Up

For the year ended December 31st, 2019 the Nation received $364 thousand dollars in income from its water, sewer, trash pickup, and sanitation services and expended $377 thousand dollars in expense from the same operations. This resulted in a net loss of $13 thousand to the utilities unit which was a 75% increase in net revenue compared to last year’s loss of $53 thousand dollars.

For more information, the Nation’s full Audited Financial Statements can be found on our website.

The Administrative Services Division also continues to modernize the Nation’s systems to support growth in those areas. Some of those projects include: (i) the division’s implementation of a new paperless storage system which allows information to be stored more efficiently, (ii) the division’s development of a more streamlined payroll and HRIS system, (iii) and developing systems for electronic signatures, ACH/Direct Deposit for tribal distributions so that payments for tribal members are more efficiently distributed.

 As the Nation continues to look forward there are tremendous opportunities on the horizon both from its growth in grant programs and grant awards and the development of its casino and gaming project. The Nation’s future is very bright. The Administrative Services Division continues to work to ensure that the departments who provide internal support to the Nation’s operation are functioning as effectively and efficiently as possible to support growth in those areas.