RED BAY – The city of Red Bay ended the year 2012 in great financial shape according to the annual audit report the city council received on Friday.
Local certified public accountant Dicky Sparks, who handled the city’s audit for 2012, said the city continues to show impressive growth.
Sparks said all the records for the city were clean and the city’s revenue exceeded their expenditures by $266,889 for 2012.
“We do a lot of audits and the city of Red Bay’s staff, mayor and council do a good job managing their finances,” Sparks said.
“All we do is report the numbers and the numbers speak for themselves. It’s very pleasant to see that level of professionalism and management in a local government, and that business-minded attitude permeates throughout the city’s departments.”
According to Sparks, Red Bay showed increases in revenue in the area of sales tax revenue, which increased by $44,000, and privilege license revenue, which increased by $5,000.
He said occupational tax revenue held steady with less than a one-percent decrease in that revenue since last year.
Sparks said the city is also in compliance with all bond provisions and is making bond payments accordingly.
“I was very impressed with the ratio of current assets to current liability, which is an important ratio to measure a financial institution’s health,” Sparks said.
“The city had accurate and complete records, a professional staff who was very cooperative throughout this process, and the numbers show the city is financially stable.”
Councilwoman Charlene Fancher said she was happy to see the city continuing to make strides in a positive direction.
“It is very commendable that our debt is very low and that our income has increased,” Fancher said.
“The financial success our city is seeing is a testament to the good management skills that are in place and the teamwork that starts with the mayor and council and goes all the way to the department heads, office staff and employees.
“Our department heads do an excellent job of working within their budgets and our employees help them accomplish this.
“When you run the city like a business and live within the budget you have set forth, you will see positive results and the city of Red Bay is proof of this.”
Fancher said she was also impressed to see income tax revenue up to over $60,000, which is a great asset to the city.
“We can’t thank our citizens enough for continuing to shop at home,” Fancher said.
“We have residents from surrounding areas and parts of Mississippi who also choose to shop in Red Bay and we appreciate our own citizens as well as others who make that decision.”
Fancher said their location in the west end of the county contributes somewhat to the need to shop locally but she said the businesses in the city are also an asset.
“We could ask our citizens all day long to shop at home, but it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t have any businesses worth shopping at,” Fancher said.
“We have excellent businesses in our city and we appreciate the services they provide our residents with.”
Fancher said she hoped to see a similar, or even better audit, at the end of this year.
“If we keep moving forward and working within our budget and increasing our revenue, we should be in just as good a shape or better next year.”