Columbia Borough gets clean audit opinion, but capital fund falls deeply into the red

JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY 

Columbia Borough Council heard the results of its 2025 financial audit at the July 28 regular meeting. Boyer & Ritter LLC presented a clean bill of health on the borough's books even as the capital fund closed the year deeply in deficit.

Senahid Zahirovic, CPA and principal at Boyer & Ritter said the audit came back with an unmodified opinion, which means the borough's financial statements fairly represent its financial position in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. 

The report noted no uncorrected misstatements, no disagreements with management, no significant issues discussed with borough officials, and no significant difficulties encountered during the audit.

The capital projects fund, which flipped from a surplus to a sizable deficit, was driven by a jump in spending alongside a drop in revenue. Specifically, the fund fell from a positive balance of $256,786 in 2024 to a deficit of $2,198,176 by the end of 2025 — a shift of roughly $2.45 million in one year. This was driven mainly by an increase in expenditures (to $2,667,850, largely from $1,831,720 in community development spending) while revenue into the fund fell to just $212,888.

The borough's outstanding general obligation bonds continued to decline, standing at $7,040,000 at year-end, down from $7,525,000 in 2024 and $8,005,000 in 2023, reflecting ongoing debt service payments. The term of the bond payback extends to 2038.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The "bond" refers to a series of general obligation bonds totaling $9.8 million that were taken out in 2016 to pay off debt and for capital projects. The borough continues to pay off the bond debt at the rate of about half a million dollars a year. That amount is equivalent to just over one mill of tax. At a 2022 meeting, Mark Stivers, then borough manager, said, "We've been borrowing money to pay the bond," which he described as an "albatross." At that time, Heather Zink, then council president, suggested a special tax levy to pay off the debt — still a real possibility this fall when budget talks begin.]