By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
TAYLOR — City officials were cautiously optimistic after last week’s audit, and may be more than halfway toward eliminating a budget deficit that not so long ago seemed to put the city on the path toward state takeover.
An audit by Plante & Moran was presented to City Council Monday that reported a deficit of $2.3 million for the fiscal year ending June 2013, a figure less than half of the $5 million shortfall that had been projected just one year ago.
Mayor Rick Sollars said several factors contributed during the past 12 months which resulted in the city poised to complete a five-year debt elimination plan sooner than expected.
“There were a couple of components that made up the difference,” Sollars said. “One was a reduction in spending — that was a huge part of it.”
At this time last year city officials said that they hoped to erase about 20 percent of the deficit that had prompted a state review of municipal finances and speculation that the city could be subject to emergency management or bankruptcy. Instead, decisions and agreements in 2013 included streamlined city hall operations and negotiations for a grant that allowed the city to reopen two shuttered fire stations.
Sollars said that “tax collections, as opposed to tax-related revenues” helped stabilize the municipal budget, and that the city is well position to continue toward debt-elimination. By spring the city plans to hire additional police officers — five new positions were filled in December — and maintain what Sollars called “longer-term plans” now that union contracts with police and fire have been settled.
For the first time in many years city officials reviewed an audit that revealed financial gains rather than an increasing deficit. The general fund balance was reportedly approaching $1 million compared to last year’s negative $2 million, and all signs — cautiously — indicate a trend that will continue.
(James Mitchell can be reached at [email protected])