BRADENTON BEACH – City Commissioners praised City Clerk Terri Sanclemente and City Treasurer Shayne Thompson for the clean audit of the 2016-17 fiscal year budget.
On June 13, auditors Randy Dillingham and Jeff Gerhard reviewed with the City Commission the written audit report pertaining to the 2016-17 fiscal year that ended in September.
At year-end, the city had $6.25 million in cash, investments and capital assets. The city ended the fiscal year with a $2.25 million general fund balance and $262,850 in short-term liabilities. This resulted in $1.86 million being carried into the current 2017-18 fiscal year, with $552,143 of that in unassigned funds available for spending at the commission’s discretion.
The city received $2.74 million in revenues and had $2.81 million in expenditures. Dillingham said the city spent $68,900 more than it collected, but spent $285,664 less than originally budgeted. Dillingham said the general fund decreased by $157,038, which was less than $242,866 originally anticipated.
Dillingham said the city collected $195,736 less than budgeted, most of which was due to the one-year delay incurred when transferring stormwater fee billing from the city to the county. Dillingham said the budget would likely have ended with a zero deficit or a positive gain if not for that.
“We all understood that when the budget was adopted,” Mayor John Chappie said.
The Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) had a $1.47 million year-end fund balance that included $359,779 in CRA tax revenues transferred from the general fund. The Tingley Memorial Library had a $504,782 fund balance that decreased by $31,990.
“During the audit, we did have 10 adjustments to the statements. That’s a reduction. Every year it’s been going down,” Dillingham said of the year-end adjustments.
“You’re in good financial position,” he concluded.
Commission praise
“The last three or four years have been challenging,” Chappie said.
“When Terri came in, it (the budget) was in bad shape. An elected official was saying things weren’t right, the budget’s terrible. You guys stuck to the plan and the city is right where it needs to be. I want to thank you,” Chappie said to Sanclemente.
“Thank you for everything you’ve added for transparency and accountability,” he said to Thompson.
After the meeting, Chappie said former mayor Bill Shearon was the elected official he was referring to.
“We have a really good staff on board to take care of us,” Commissioner Ralph Cole said.
“We have a great staff,” Commissioner Jake Spooner added.
“I would like to thank all of the departments. We all worked closely together to make this happen. I want to thank the commission too because you’re a big part of what we do,” Sanclemente said.
