Aldermen receive good audit report at Tuesday meeting

The Starkville Board of Aldermen received good news at Tuesday night's meeting from a Sept. 30, 2018 fiscal year audit presentation by Randy Scrivner of Watkins, Ward and Stafford, PLLC.

The General Fund balance is $3,000,084,937. The general fund is the principal operating fund of the city.

Scrivner said the balance is 14.98 percent of general fund expenditure. According to Scrivner it's an important number to pay attention to because it's eight percent is to keep for a safety net.

He used the example of the United States government shutdown to explain why it's important to have that safety net.

"You don't get funding in certain areas while all of that is going on. You've got to have a cash reserve there to handle generally two to three months of expenditures," Scrivner said.

Stability is expected to be seen in the balance amount and growth as well. Starkville has been able to achieve that expected stability and growth over the last 2-3 years.

The audit report from Sept. 30, 2017 stated Starkville is financially sound and has a stable economic base with continued expansion in retail, commercial and residential areas. The report stated the city derives additional revenue from a two percent tax on food and beverage sale that supports economic development, tourism, parks