Clinton audit shows things looking better

Auditors for the City of Clinton reported an improving financial picture for the City in their latest annual review of finances presented Dec. 19 to the City Council.
“Overall we think this is a good report for the City,” James Kuykendall of the Weatherford accounting firm of Brittain, Kuykendall & Miller told the council. “The economy seems to be turning; hopefully the sales tax will too.”
The audit covered the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2017, so it’s already about six months behind.
In a prelude to it, City Treasurer Debra Blanchard wrote: “With the rebound in energy prices, Oklahoma employment has bottomed out and once again has begun to grow. The number of drilling rigs in Oklahoma has more than doubled since reaching a low in the summer of 2016.”
BK&M’s audit showed a total of City assets at just over $57.8 million at the end of June. Kuykendall said this was an increase of $1.8 million from one year earlier.
Revenues for the year totaled over $7.9 million, the bulk of them coming from sales taxes of $5.4 million.
The City has two types of entities – government and proprietary. Kuykendall explained that government activities are financed primarily from taxes and proprietary by income they produce. Proprietary activities are those that operate like a business, such as the water operation which is funded by fees charged customers.
Net assets of governmental activities showed a decline of almost $870,000 for the year. But, said Kuykendall, “Without those significant cuts, it would have been a lot worse.”
He didn’t say what the significant cuts were, but apparently they included the dismissal of about 18 City employees as financial conditions worsened near the end of calendar year 2016.
In her prelude, Ms. Blanchard gave a breakout of expenditures for the City’s governmental activities – those funded essentially by taxes – and how they compared to one year earlier. All showed declines.
For individual departments on the government side, the spending totals were as follows:
Police $1,428,117, down 88,000 (6 percent) from the previous year’s $1,515,677;
Parks and Recreation $706,198, down $326,000 (46 percent) from the previous year’s $1,032,323;
Fire $820,969, down $61,000 (7 percent) from the previous year’s $882,395;
Governing Board and Administration $643,132, down $50,000 (8 percent) from the previous year’s $692,727;
Streets $412,893, down $146,000 (35 percent) from the previous year’s $558,669;
Finance $401,757, down $1,000 (essentially no change on a percentage basis) from the previous year’s $402,875;
Facilities Maintenance $233,363, down $45,000 (19 percent) from the previous year’s $278,839;
Legal and Courts $126,822, down $5,000 (4 percent) from the previous year’s $131,748;
Cemetery $111,460, down $2,000 (2 percent) from the previous year’s $113,802;
Inspection and Code Enforcement, $70,762, down $2,000 (3 percent) from the previous year’s $72,913.
The audit together with Ms. Blanchard’s comments totaled 54 pages.