Brownsboro finances audited; achieves excellent score
By Nathan Straus News Reporter

The Brownsboro City Council opened December 13 to the sound of the results of last fiscal year's audit. The audit for the year, ending June 30, 2007, described Brownsboro's financial situation during this time as excellent.

The statement, submitted by Kevin Cashion of Certified Public Accountants, stated Brownsboro ended the year with a total asset increase of $385,684, an increase of 19.92 percent. Its net assets increased $351,916, or 32.16 percent.

"You can see that the increase in net assets when compared to the prior year was $301,824 more than the prior year," Cashion wrote.

Cashion noted the increase can be attributed to increased police department ticketing efforts and a grant funding of $250,000 towards the city's water and sewer system.

According to the audit, the fund balance increased $61,677 over the anticipated break even budget for the year, and revenues were $185,591 over budget due to the fine increases. The second point was offset by the increase in public safety expenses from increased payroll costs and fines remitted to the state.

"The net effect of the police department's law enforcement had a positive impact on the city's general fund," Cashion wrote. "The increase in fine revenue also allowed the city to pay off a note on its police cars early in the past fiscal year."

However, due to the "wet summer", as described by Cashion, the wet months caused revenues to come in $46,449 under budget, resulting in a $32,324 decrease in net assets for the year for the water and sewer fund.

Despite this, Cashion wrote Brownsboro had done an excellent job keeping expenses under budget.

After approving the report, the council went on to cover four points of new action.

While the council did receive an offer for the fire house it decided to try to sell last month at $25,000, the quote was nowhere near the asking price. The council approved the decision to lower the price to $17,500 and keep searching for quotes.

Ronny Harris, mayor of Brownsboro, said on the day before Thanksgiving of 2007 there was hardly any business being conducted at Brownsboro City Hall at around 1:30 pm.

"We wanted to give the employees the rest of the afternoon off," Harris said.

The council decided to pay for the early release.

The next two items on the agenda concerned the city's personnel handbook, which Harris said is going to be revised in the near future.

The city waived the requirement that said a new employee is not eligible for holiday pay during the 90 day evaluation period, Harris also said. This will apply through the rest of 2007.

In addition, the council made a provision for the optimal end of calendar year compensation for employees, essentially a Christmas bonus.

With no action taken so far regarding city planning and zoning and no special reports, the meeting was adjourned.