The Ava City Council heard their annual auditor’s report at their regular meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 14.
A representative from Davis, Lynn & Moots, P.C. of Springfield gave a report on the city’s financial statements.
The report, which is of June 30, 2010, gave the city an unqualified, or clean opinion.
“This is the best rating you can get,” the representative said. “As far as I know, the City of Ava has always received this rating.”
As part of her report, she noted that the city’s tax revenue was down from last year by $21,063, which is about a 2 percent decrease.
The city’s revenue was down 5 percent last year. Administrative Director Peggy Porter said that the revenue is holding steady so far this year.
The city has a 29 percent reserve in their general fund, which means that if they lost all their revenue, they could pay all of their obligations for approximately three and a half months.
“We generally recommend at least a 25 percent reserve, so the city is doing well in that area,” the representative said.
In the recommendations, she noted that the park fund was out of budgetary compliance, which means that they spent more money than was budgeted.
“We recommend that you either spend less in that fund next year or amend the budget so that they don’t go over,” she said.
The firm also recommended that that if the city goes out for bids for their banking, they require a stricter depository agreement with their bank.
There is also a new governmental accounting standard, which the firm recommends that city staff become familiar with.
Janice Lorrain, director of planning & development, reported on the MoDOT sidewalk grant.
There were 14 applications requesting money for sidewalk improvements, and Ava’s application was ranked 2nd out of the 14.
“That doesn’t mean that we receive any more money, just that our application was good,” Lorrain said.
The grant is for $380,000, with $80,000 of that money coming from the city ina local match.
The sidewalk will begin on NW 12th Avenue across from the Roberts Centre, and will only be on the north side of the street.
“We’ll go as far east as we can, hopefully to Radio Shack,” Lorrain said.
The council then approved a contract with Waterworks Specialties, Inc., for water supplies, as a new government requirement.
Mayor Leon Harris announced that the Dec. 28 council meeting will be canceled, and reported that work has started on the water line between the water tower and the new well.
He also announced that city crews built a partition between the police department and where residents had walked in that building (the old Ralwings building).
The building should be re-opened to those who wish to walk in it by the end of this week, he said.
Rick “Moose” Allen addressed the board about concerns he had about some of the contractors working for the city. Harris said that he would discuss the issue with city employees and attempt to find a resolution.
After the closed session of the meeting, the council voted to continue their contract with the Ava Area Chamber of Commerce for purposes of promoting the city for economic growth and development.
Council members present were Burrely Loftin, Judy Lovan, Billy Long and Ric Engelhardt.
As the Dec. 28 meeting has been cancelled, the next regular meeting of the council will be Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 5 p.m. in City Hall.
