Acequias are political subdivisions of the state. One of the responsibilities as a unit of local government is compliance with the Audit Act. For smaller local governments, such as acequias, the Office of the State Auditor has a "Tiered System" for financial reporting. This applies to entities with revenues less than $750,000. According to a statewide survey of acequias conducted last year, most acequias fall into either Tier 1 (revenues less than $10,000) or Tier 2 (revenues between $10,001 and $50,000). A smaller number of acequias fall inti Tier 3 or higher (particularly those who have expended state funds such as Capital Outlay).
For Tier 1 and Tier 2 acequias, all that is required to submit to the State Auditor is a Certification Letter that identifies your revenues for the past fiscal year. For Tier 3 and above, more detailed financial reporting is required.
NMAA would like to inform acequias about the deadlines for compliance with the Tiered Reporting System, which is five months after the close of the fiscal year:
- For acequias with a fiscal year end of June 30, 2016, the deadline to report to the State Auditor is November 30.
- For acequias with a fiscal year end of December 30, 2016, the deadline to report to the State Auditor is May 30, 2017.
The Department of Finance and Administration also has financial reporting requirements. Any governmental entity with revenues over $10,000 in the upcoming fiscal year is considered a "local public body" and is required to report to DFA.
- If your acequia has a fiscal year start date of January 1, 2017, your preliminary budgets are due to DFA Local Government Division by November 30, 2016. After reconciling the financial statement for the previous fiscal year (January 1, 2016 to December 30, 2016), the acequias should submit a budget (approved by the acequia commission) by January 30, 2017.
- If your acequia has a fiscal year start date of July 1, 2017, your preliminary budgets are due to DFA Local Government Division by May 30, 2017. After reconciling the financial statement for the previous fiscal year (July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017), the acequia should submit a budget (approved by the acequia commission) by August 30, 2017.
For more detailed information about compliance with the Audit Act or DFA financial reporting rules, please contact Serafina Lombardi, Director of Education and Outreach for NMAA at 505-995-9644.