Audit shows city finances are solid

By: 
Steve Lyon
Weiser City Council members approved the annual audit that showed a solid bottom line in city finances. 
 The audit for fiscal year 2018 was done by CPA Kurt Folke, a partner with Quest CPAs, who went over the numbers for the city council on Monday night. 
 Any city that spends more than $100,000 is required to do an audit of the books, he said.
 “The numbers are very good this year,” he said, and pointed to  revenue coming in higher than expenses as the reason why.
 The city had a healthy carryover of $1.97 million at the end of the fiscal year. That is enough funds to operate the city for 11-12 months. 
 Typically, cities like to have operating reserves to cover six to 12 months, Folke said.
 There were no funds within the city budget that spent more than revenue. It was the opposite, with expenses down and revenues up.  
 The city’s general fund saw revenues up over expenses to the tune of $397,572. The accounting term used is change in fund balance.
 The street fund ended FY 2018 with a balance of $1.17 million. That fund has been saving money for a major project. The city will be writing a check out of that fund for $225,000 to match federal funds for the West Ninth Street improvement project that will start next summer. 
 The city has a building and capital fund that has reached $1 million in savings. Other balances in the airport, library and recreation funds were doing fine, Folke said.
The city operates a number of enterprise funds, such as water, electricity, sewer and garbage, that charge a fee for services.  
 All of those funds ended the fiscal year in the black and there were no trends evident of any decreases in those funds, Folke said.
 “All funds are currently positive and seem to be doing fine,” he said.
 In the water fund, revenues exceeded expenses by $226,705. The sewer fund brought in $292,580 more than it spent, and the electric fund was up by $155,341. 
 The city operates its own electric utility and buys wholesale power from the Bonneville Power Administration. The city absorbed the last BPA increase of 5 percent in power costs two years ago without raising rates or going into the red.
 City clerk Dave Tate said it was one of the better audits in the 19 years he has worked for the city in terms of the financial strength of the city’s balance sheet. 
 
 

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18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
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