Improvements may come to water system
Milledgeville City Council heard the findings from its annual audit report, approved two streetlight resolutions, and approved a grant resolution.
David Irwin of Maulding and Jenkins presented the 2022 audit report. The Yellow Book Report reports the city’s internal controls and compliance. Irwin remarked that no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies were noted during the audit.
Irwin announced that the city also received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for its 36th year in a row. This certification does not assess the financial health of the city but rather judges their Annual Comprehensive Financial Report to ensure that users of the financial statements have the information needed to assess financial health themselves.
“There are not many local governments that can say they have received this [certification] 36 years in a row. This just shows once again that you are going above and beyond the minimum financial requirements,” said Irwin. “It’s an impressive document that everyone should be proud of.”
The city’s financial statements were broken into three components: government-wide financial statements, funds financial statements, and notes to the financial statements.
According to the government-wide financial statements, $87.5 million went to total assets and deferred outflows. According to Irwin, that is about a $10 million increase from the previous year. Revenues were at about $31 million with $25.3 million in expenses equating to an increase in net position of $5.7 million.
“All in all, a good year for the city from the NY perspective. You were able to increase your net position by 9% for the year,” said Irwin.
Moving into fund financial statements, Irwin showed the council multiple graphs related to general fund revenues, general fund expenditures, and general fund balance history. The general fund is the main operating fund of the city and accounts for the majority of revenues received and funds expended.
Revenues were in total around $13.2 million, which according to Irwin is “right in line” for the previous year. Taxes represented 89% of the total revenue for the general fund, which was about $11.7 million. General fund expenditures were separated by “major function” and were around $12.6 million, representing an increase of about $650,000 over fiscal year 2021. Public safety, public works, and general government represent the majority of the expenditures.
“I mentioned that your expenses increased by about $650,000 for the year. About $600,000 of that was affected by your increase in public safety expenditures,” said Irwin.
In total, the general fund’s fund balance increased by just under $50,000 for an ending balance of $5.2 million for the year. According to its history, Irwin remarked that the city has done a “great job” of increasing the fund balance over the last two years.
Enterprise funds are split into three funds: water and sewer, solid waste, and stormwater funds. These funds account for operations that are financed and operated in a manner similar to private business enterprises and the goal of these funds is to be self-sufficient to generate sufficient operating revenues to cover operating expenditures.
According to Irwin, all three of the city’s funds did that this year.
Following Irwin’s presentation, City Manager Hank Griffeth reported on a Community Development Block Grant for $1 million to improve water lines in the Milledgeville Estates Mobile Home Park, consisting of Lewis Court and Moore Street. The city will match $126,000 to the grant to benefit 83 residents, 62% of which are of low-to-moderate income.
“This will enable us to put in the city’s water system to replace the private water system. It is one of the biggest entries on our water loss audit each year because they will not repair it,” said Griffeth.
Griffeth also stated that District 3 Council Member Shonya Mapp was in communication with Rep. Ken Vance, which “led me and her to believe there will be some money in Atlanta to help us with our recent woes.” Vance has not stated what these “woes” are but did ask if the city can submit a $3.5 million proposal to him to take back to Atlanta. The city has already submitted the proposal and Vance confirmed receipt of the letter.
“If we are able to do the raw water pump station number one, then that will shave off about $2.5 million on our overall renovation of the water treatment plant. That is about 10 to 12 percent of what we expect the project to cost,” said Griffeth.
Closing the meeting, the council unanimously approved an application for the 2024 Georgia Department of Transportation’s Local Maintenance & Improvement Grant cycle that will pay for the funding of specific roads, if received.
Also, a resolution was made to authorize the City of Milledgeville to submit a request to the Georgia Department of Transportation for a traffic signal on North Columbia Street at Mall Drive, as well as a resolution to submit a request for a traffic signal on Hancock Street at Baldwin High School.