An objective third party has confirmed what Ketchum's mayor and City Council said repeatedly during the run-up to the city's November election: Ketchum's finances are in good shape.
Dennis Brown, a certified public accountant, has checked Ketchum's books cover to cover for a fiscal 2009 audit, and his message for the city's leaders is simple.
"To do what you did in this environment is just amazing," Brown said during a City Council meeting Monday. "Way to go."
Brown said the city's finances have not been mismanaged, as several candidates argued during their recent election campaigns. He wrote, in his audit for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, that the situation is quite the opposite, with Ketchum's funds exceeding liabilities by $19.25 million. That's $29,800 less than years before when net assets were $19.28 million, representing a 0.15 percent decrease. Nonetheless, Brown said, it's an achievement in this economic climate.
He said an even more impressive accomplishment was that general-fund revenue exceeded expenditures by $912,000, especially since that number was expected to be $685,000. The general fund is the city's chief operating fund.
And this $227,000 general-fund increase occurred even though the city received $1.7 million less than anticipated from taxes, permits and other revenue forms. But the city managed to more than offset that reduction by spending $1.9 million less than expected, cutting spending from $10.6 million to $8.7 million.
Councilman Charles Conn said it's "nice to hear an external perspective" to put the mismanaged-finances argument to rest.
City Administrator Gary Marks oversaw the development of the budget and made a point after the audit report at Monday's meeting.
"It's hard not to come up here and say, 'I told you so,'" he said.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
