Dougherty County ends FY 2011 $1.8 million under budget

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J.D. Sumner

An independent auditor who reviewed the financial documents of the Dougherty County government for fiscal year 2011 told commissioners Monday that his company found “no major issues” with the county’s bookkeeping.

After all accounts were settled and closed out, the Dougherty County Commission ended the fiscal year June 30, 2011 spending more than $1.8 million less than they had budgeted for the year. Unfortunately, revenues continued to slide as well, ending the year down roughly $2.8 million as well, forcing the commission to pull $1 million out of its reserve fund.

Craig Moye, a representative from the auditor, Mauldin & Jenkins, told commissioners that their books were free of any red flags or major financial findings.

“We found no major issues at all,” Moye said. “This is an unqualified and clean opinion.”

County Administrator Richard Crowdis thanked the commission and his department heads for tightening their belts and continuing to keep a conservative posture when it comes to weighing their finances, but also warned that there will still be hurdles to overcome looking ahead to next year.

“Unlike private business, our demand doesn’t go down during a recession,” Crowdis said. “People want more police protection and things like that and that doesn’t change during a recession.”

Newly-appointed Dougherty County Commission Vice Chairman Ewell Lyle added that, if anything, sometimes the need for services during a recession may go up.

“It’s just one of those things where, really, you can see where demand for services could go up during a recession and so it’s on us to find ways to make sure people get those services,” Lyle said.

At the end of the fiscal year, the county had roughly $10.4 million in unrestricted reserves on hand with a total of $220 million in total assets including things like police cars, ambulances, property and the like.

On a brighter note, sales tax revenues awarded to the county, propped up largely by the new East Albany Wal-Mart, were up by roughly $1 million.