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December 30, 2005
City Audit 2004-2005
Below is a letter I sent to the local papers concerning our most recent audit. Many have been asking questions about it and I believe in keeping the public informed anyways, so hopefully this will answer some questions. I'll also check back for questions from bloggers here and be happy to answer them.
To the Editor:
As I have been able to enjoy a little bit of this holiday break, I have run into people who want to know about the City’s most recent audit. Many have read a little bit about it in the newspapers, but have wanted to know more about the fiscal well-being of the City. I thought I might use this space to hit the highlights. These numbers will reflect the City’s accounting from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005.
The Good News:
There were two major trends that I really thought reflected positively on the City for the past year. Operating expenses increased $307,299 from 04 to 05, but operating revenue increased $343,700. This reflected that our new revenue exceeded our new expenses by $36,401. This trend has let us do another great thing. Our unreserved fund balance, which can be used as a “rainy day” fund increased to $610,410. This is significant because it had reached a dangerous low of around $100,000 in 2003.
The City’s total debt decreased by $999,240 (%8) during the fiscal year and now stands at $13,445,890. This is down from what I believe was about $18 million in 2003, the first audit I got a look at.
Portland’s unemployment rate was 4.0%. This is over a full percentage point below the state average of 5.1% and the nation’s rate of 5.5% for the same time period. Our local industries have helped keep our unemployment low while also comprising a large part of our tax base. The top ten industries in our city paid a total of $58,383,157 in taxes to the city.
The Bad News:
The vast majority of negative findings in the audit dealt primarily with how we do some of our accounting. In response to these concerns we have discussed upgrading our computer systems in the next budget year, changing how we fund the payroll account, and other procedural changes that will make it easier to track where our money is going. The problems were not with the accounts themselves, as all showed a positive balance throughout the city, just the procedures we use to account and track them that if we change, will give us a lot more information such as gas mileage for each vehicle, quicker turnaround on funds which will allow us to accrue more interest, etc.
Another concern continues to be our water loss which averaged 28% for the fiscal year. This problem has been identified in the past and we embarked last year on a four-year plan to address this, so hopefully this number will get smaller and smaller each year as we are able to address this problem.
The auditor also mentioned that there seems to be a large amount of spending in the Parks Dept compared to other cities. This does not reflect poorly on the Parks Dept. because a large portion of this spending is on the debt from buying the land for the new park a few years ago. This will also soon change as we will pay off that note in fiscal year 2007.
All in all, I was very pleased with the City’s financial performance last year. So much more could have been written, but I wanted to just give an overall picture of the City’s financial well-being. If any of you have more specific questions, you can email me at TCoker@cityofportlandtn.gov. If you can’t reach me that way, feel free to call me at home.
Sincerely,
Tim Coker
Chairman of Finance Committee
Posted by at December 30, 2005 12:16 AM
Comments
What's going on with the air quality in Portland,,,Industries of course,,,I have read about the amount of nickle in the air in the local newspaper. The city gets fined, where does that "fine" money come from? Why can't the city of Portland determine which of the local industries are emitting these fumes? I moved here in Feb. 2005, Have been to emergency room four times for breathing problems. Sometimes at night down Briley Lane, the stench is unbearable, I have actually called the Portland Police Dept. and asked if anything in the area has exploded. The sad thing is new houses are coming up all around the briley lane area with the industries in their back yard, as my home is within site of the noisy, nasty, chemical smelling area. Can't something be done? thank you
Posted by: Gail Chandler at February 14, 2006 07:00 AM
I want to thank Tim for putting this info out and for his work on finance; he has been able to keep a close eye on the city's money.
I also agree that their is a lot of positive news from this audit and as long as the council and mayor have some common goals and are willing to implement those goals, then Portland is headed for a good future.
mikecallis@cityofportlandtn.gov
Posted by: councilman callis at December 30, 2005 09:37 AM