Daniel Prince
Audit firm says, "It was a really good year."
At Tuesday’s Union County Council meeting, Holly Blackwell was honored for 30 years of service to Union County through the 16th Circuit Solicitor’s Office. Rob Fraim, Director of Union County Emergency Management, was honored for 15 years of service, and Christina Lamb with Union County EMS was honored for 5 years.
Buffalo resident David Pittman appeared before the council to talk about the Buffalo Mill Park revitalization project. He stated he had 40 years of experience in doing that sort of work and he was willing to volunteer his services to help out if the county wanted. Supervisor Frank Hart said that would be very much appreciated, and he said he would be in touch with Pittman to possibly serve on a committee of residents there working with the project. Pittman asked about the second phase of the environmental study to be done at the mill site. Hart said he would talk to Pittman later about all that, but he did mention the county is hoping to receive a brownfield grant this summer to be able to complete that study.
Andrew Dobson with Halliday, Schwartz, and Company presented the results of the county’s annual audit. Two audits were done—the regular yearly audit and what is called a single audit, which is done whenever the county spends over a certain amount of federal money, as it has the last two years. Dobson noted that with next year’s single audit, the county will have built up enough of a history to move from a high-risk category to a low-risk category, meaning the single audit next year won’t have to be as stringent as that of the last two years. Dobson said there were no issues found in the single audit. The main audit received an unmodified opinion, which is the highest and best opinion that can be given in an audit. The general fund balance increased by $1.3 million, from nearly $7.8 million at the start of the last fiscal year to around $9.1 million by the end. That compares to the expected budgeted loss of $817,000 or so the county had expected. Revenue from property taxes and the local option sales tax saw increases. The ending fund balance represents 48.5% of the county’s actual expenditures, meaning the county has nearly six months of operating revenue in its general fund. All in all, Dobson said it was a good year for the county:
(audio below story)
We’ll have more from the meeting in tomorrow’s news.