Ketchum gets ‘clean’
audit for 2003
Budget projections were in error
"I think it’s important to recognize
that we don’t have a (budget) problem."
— Maurice Charlat, Ketchum City
councilman
By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer
Defying projections that it could deplete
more than half of its monetary reserves in a 12-month period, the city of
Ketchum this month was issued a clean bill of health for its finances in the
2002-2003 fiscal year.
Addressing the Ketchum City Council
Monday, Dec. 15, Twin Falls-based certified public accountant Dennis Brown said
the city’s finances were in excellent order at the close of the 2002-2003 fiscal
year. The fiscal year at issue ran from Oct. 1, 2002, through Sept. 30, 2003.
"The city is really in a very healthy
position," Brown said, noting that he had issued a "clean opinion" after
assessing the city’s financial status.
Brown said the city did spend more than it
collected in the 12-month period, but ultimately used only a fraction of what it
was scheduled to allocate through its approved 2002-2003 budget. "The bottom
line is, the city expended a little more than $100,000 in the general fund than
it took in," the CPA said.
Indeed, the city spent $7,221,031 through
its general fund last fiscal year, $105,153 more than it brought in.
However, in the 2002-2003 fiscal year
budget, the city was scheduled to spend $918,000 more than it was projected to
receive. The city was projected to bring in approximately $7,264,000 and spend
$8,182,000.
Last summer, as the City Council started
reviewing the city’s financial figures to prepare the 2003-2004 budget, city
administrators had suggested that the entire $918,000 from the reserve funds
might be needed to cover expenses.
"That didn’t happen," Brown said, noting
that the city ultimately avoided spending more than $800,000 that could have
come out of its nearly $1.5 million "fund balance"—or reserve. As a result, the
city at the close of the 2002-2003 fiscal year recorded a fund balance of
$1,382,042.
Brown told council members that a
combination of two factors aided the city’s finances. After a questionable
outlook in the middle of the year, revenues improved to nearly meet the
projections set forth in the budget. At the same time, several individual
departments cut expenses adequately to close the fiscal year with substantial
budget surpluses.
In his last meeting as a member of the
City Council, retiring Councilman Maurice Charlat said City Administrator Ron
LeBlanc and other members of the council should be praised for overseeing a
"spectacular" turnaround in the status of the city’s monetary reserves.
"I think it’s important to recognize that
we don’t have a (budget) problem," Charlat said. "This council and this staff
ought to be very proud of this report."
Council President Randy Hall—who was
recently re-elected to the council amid challenges from candidates who
questioned the city’s handling of its finances—asked Brown why the actual
numbers vary so greatly from the somewhat dire projections put forth last
summer. He asked where the budget "drama" that "nearly cost me my job" came
from.
Brown said he believes the confusion among
city officials, council members and the public over the state of the city’s
financial affairs could have come from the way the city’s financial data were
"presented."
Brown added that the city’s revenue
figures were skewed by large infusions of property tax dollars in January and
July.
LeBlanc said he believes the problem arose
from the city’s antiquated accounting systems, which have been thoroughly
revamped in recent months. "The old budget system was inaccurate and distorted
the numbers," he said.
At the close of Brown’s presentation
Monday, council members voted 4-0 on a resolution to accept and approve Brown’s
audit.