By Meg Peters
Review Staff Writer
Certified public accountant Rana Emmons gave village council and administration a pat on the back at the’Monday’night meeting for running a tight financial ship during the fiscal year of 2014.
Representing auditing firm PSLZ LLP Certified Public Accountants, Emmons? team assessed the village’s financial activity of fiscal year 2014, which ended’June 30.
The Lake Orion Village Council filed the 2014 Lake Orion Audited Financial Report with no major qualms and only a few words of wisdom: take a closer at their refined pension plan, which is only 70 percent funded.
‘It’s not alarming, but it has been dropping,? she told council.
The rest of the news was smooth and expected, according to council members comments.
‘Our total government fund balance increase of $210,977 as compared to our decrease of $297,737 the year before, those are the things we fight for, a healthy fund balance,? President Ken Van Portfliet said. ‘It looks like we are in pretty good shape.?
The village closed out the year with a total of $611,486 in their general fund balance, representing at $187,673 increase from the year before.
?’The last couple of years we have been adding to the fund balance, and it isn’t that the village suddenly came into a lot of money, it’s really more that council and administration has been looking very closely at expenditures,? Emmons said.
Included in those cost cuts are decreased expenditures in capital outlay, she said, and consolidating lost full time positions.
While Lake Orion doesn’t have much control over incoming revenues, Emmons said, a countywide trend is also helping the village out.
‘If you compare fiscal year 20103 with fiscal year 2014 we do see a slight increase in property taxes which appears to be a trend based on surrounding communities,? she said. ‘Same thing with state-shared revenue increases. It’s slight, only $2,000 to $3,000 from the state sales tax, but it’s an increase.?
Although Lake Orion paid off two outstanding debts in 2013, total bond debt increased by close to $450,000 during 2014 due to the issuance of the Oakland-Macomb Interceptor bonds, or county bonds, which council expected.
Councilman Douglas Hobbs also noted the village’s investment policy is at a stable rating of AA-.
‘The village has remained very stable and healthy, so there would be no reason for that to go down,? Emmons said. ‘And in addition we are under the stable umbrella of Oakland County, so that helps us as well.?
Apart from all the positive news, Village Manager Darwin McClary did pose one less majestic comment.
‘As you know, we have been experiencing losses with the water and sewer fund and we do need to get a handle on that,? he said. ‘We need to have discussions on water and sewer rates, and we need to have those soon.?