Red Bay receives great audit report

RED BAY – The city of Red Bay once again received good news concerning the city’s financial state and revenue intake.
Local certified public accountant Dicky Sparks, who was in charge of the city’s audit for 2011, said the city of Red Bay showed impressive growth and was in great financial health.
“There were no areas of concern, which is something I can’t say everywhere I go,” Sparks said.
Sparks said Red Bay’s records were clean and their revenue exceeded their expenditures by $777,325.
“Here today, I see the council reviewing bills and being involved and that’s the way a city council should be [handling business],” Sparks said at Wednesday’s meeting. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I just want to commend you on these figures.”
According to Sparks, Red Bay showed increases in revenue from 2010 to 2011 in many areas including sales tax increasing by $50,000; occupational tax increasing by $35,000; privilege license revenue increasing by $40,871; and significant increases in capital assets as well as federal and state grant funding, which totaled $617,000 for 2011.
Councilwoman Charlene Fancher said the excellent audit report was the result of many factors coming together to continue to make the city of Red Bay successful.
“When so much hard work and planning has gone into the budgets and adhering to them, it just makes you overflow with joy to get such a good report,” Fancher said. “The city of Red Bay is reaping the benefits of good management.”
Fancher said the residents of Red Bay are a big reason the town continues to show growth, especially over the past couple of years.
“Red Bay is very unique and our location helps us with our revenue,” she said. “We are blessed that the people here shop at home and that fact alone is why our sales tax revenue increased by $50,000.”
Fancher said she was also pleased to see the increase in privilege license revenue.
“This shows me that Red Bay is progressing,” she said. “We have businesses here that are flourishing, which is a big factor in the city’s financial health.”
Fancher said another key factor was the good management of city department heads and other city employees.
“We have excellent employees working for the city who do a great job of working with this administration and staying within their budgets,” she said. “This has been a team effort and I couldn’t be more proud.”
In other business, the Red Bay City Council:
• Adopted the 2011-2012 financial forecast.
• Approved a request for Sen. Roger Bedford to prepare an agreement between the city of Red Bay and the Mississippi-Alabama Railroad Authority giving the city permission to repair the railroad crossings inside the city limits.
• Authorized Mayor Bobby Forsythe to approve the purchase of a new first response vehicle for the Red Bay Fire Department is the vehicle meets certain qualifications.