Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011

Garner earns high marks

Town kept spending down last year, saw revenue climb

Town leaders were patting themselves on the back last week after auditors presented Garner with a clean bill of financial health for fiscal year 2009-10.

Eddie Burke, a partner in the accounting firm Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, gave Garner particularly high marks for keeping cash reserves well above the minimum amount required by the state's Local Government Commission, which oversees county and town finances in North Carolina. Burke also said Garner was wise not to take on any new debt in the last fiscal year.

Garner benefitted somewhat from revenues that came in higher than projected. The town had expected to collect $23 million, mostly in property and sales taxes; instead, it collected $24.2 million.

The revenue numbers surprised Lin Jones, the town's finance officer. "The revenue collector in Wake County expected those numbers to drop," Jones said. "But revenues came in higher than we projected, and expenditures came in lower than projected."

Jones had also been conservative in estimating the property-tax collection rate. He had forecast a collection rate of 96.5 percent, down from 97 percent the year before. But Garner ended up collecting 98 percent - or about $14 million.

"This has probably been one of the highest collection rates of property taxes we've ever had," Jones said.

Like his fellow Town Council members, Mayor Ronnie Williams was pleased with the audit. "I didn't really see anything negative in the report," he said. "It came out as good or better than I expected."

Jones said the town spent the most of its money on public safety and general government.