Scott Brewer of the Dixon, Odom accounting firm reported on the audit to the Pinehurst Village Council in a work session Tuesday morning. Brewer commended Village Finance Director Natalie Dean and her staff for their work during the fiscal year ended June 30.
Dean gave the council copies of her “Comprehensive Annual Financial Report” and provided a two-hour summary of the report’s findings.
“The village’s financial position is strong,” she said.
The report shows that General Fund revenues exceeded expenditures by $294,090 for the year. This resulted in an ending fund balance of $3,169,000, of which $2.3 million is legally available for appropriation.
Excluding the financial impact of clean-up costs after the January 2000 snowstorm and associated reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the village generated $204,000 more revenue in the past year than in the prior year, while reducing expenditures by $65,000. Debt service declined by about $50,000.
Fund Balance Healthy
Dean said the available fund balance amounts to 31.9 percent of 2000-2001 expenditures — well above the 8 percent minimum strongly urged by state overseers, but about 10 percent under the state average for municipalities of comparable population.
She also told the council that the village last year spent significantly more on wages, salaries and employee benefits than comparable towns in North Carolina, while spending “significantly less” on capital outlay.
The personnel expenses amounted to 52 percent of all expenditures, Dean said.
Council member George Hillier noted that the original budget for last fiscal year calculated these personnel expenses at only 47 percent.
“That figure may not be out of line, but it raises a red flag,” Hillier said. “We need to check into how much insurance costs are contributing to that and what we can do about it.”
In other business during Tuesday’s work session, the council approved a resolution authorizing a 7½-year lease of property to Moore County at $1 a year, after the closing of an exchange of property with the county.
The property to be leased is a vacant lot just under 1 acre in size on the northwest side of Rattlesnake Trail about 70 yards southwest of Kelly Road. The village is obtaining this lot from the county in an exchange of property, the purpose of which is to facilitate the location of an elevated water tower.
Village Manager Andy Wilkison said the county plans to store equipment for its Public Utilities Department on the property.
The council approved by consensus a request from Friends of Given Memorial Library to be allowed to store books for the library’s annual book sale either in an unfinished portion of the Village Hall or in a part of the village’s old police station. Mayor Steve Smith directed Wilkison to work out the details.
Also by consensus, the council approved Community Presbyterian Church’s request to be allowed parking in front of one church member’s house near the intersection of Everett and Kelly roads, in front of the church manse, and at the side of Pinehurst Elementary School for one Sunday only. The occasion will be the church’s annual Congregational Fair.
Animal Control Ordinance
The council discussed a proposed addition to the village’s animal control ordinance but tabled it for further study. The new ordinance would require persons who walk dogs on certain listed public properties, including Wicker Park and Cannon Park, to clean up after them.
Hillier suggested the ordinance be extended to include “the private property of others.” But Wilkison said he had not talked with police officials about that type of ordinance and added that enforcing the broader ordinance might be difficult.
Council member Jack Glynn said he objected to persons being allowed to walk their dogs in Cannon Park at all — to which Smith retorted, half jokingly, “I think it’s un-American to be against dogs.”
