FARMINGTON -- There's good news and bad news in an audit of city finances for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.
Results from the annual city audit, released last week, show the city's enterprise water fund continued to show a deficit for the year.
However, the deficit was smaller than the year before, and city officials have since implemented a 40 percent water rate increase, which is expected to narrow the gap between expenditures and revenues.
Michael Ulrich of Ulrich & Associates said the water fund showed a deficit of $76,106 for the past year, compared to a shortfall of $265,000 the previous year. Ulrich credited an increase in residential building permits for helping to shrink the gap.
"It didn't get any worse," Ulrich said of the deficit.
Aside from the water fund, the audit did have some good news for local officials.
The city's general fund showed a surplus of revenue, beyond the state's 18 percent limit -- approximately $178,000 more than the limit. Ulrich credited the rise in business permits for the surplus.
Under state guidelines, local officials are required to deal with the surplus within a two-year time frame, a scenario Mayor Scott Harbertson welcomes.
"There are plenty of projects that will take care of it," Harbertson said of the surplus.
He cited the possibility of buying land for another cemetery or using the funds to pay down existing bonds. There also has been discussion of potentially putting money toward road repairs.
Harbertson praised staff for being frugal with public funds and especially singled out Keith Johnson, the city's finance director, for his care in managing city finances.
Retiring City Manager Max Forbush praised Johnson for the clean audit, because of his attention to detail.
Comments