VARNVILLE - Varnville ended 2009 about $6,232 of meeting its budget.
Certified Public Accountant Bill Hancock with Brittingham, Brown, Prince and Hancock, LLC presented the town's audit to Varnville Town Cuncil for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2009.
Hancock said the town began the year with net assets of approximately $2,186,000 and at the end of the year they had approximately $2,180,000.
The water and sewer costs for the town were approximately $742,398. Its revenue was only around $567,000. To cover that shortfall, a $253,000 transfer from the general fund took place.
"The typical best practice is to plan for a zero balance transfer," Hancock told council.
Hancock said the county was doing a good job of collecting taxes for the town.
However, Hancock explained that there was usually a two-month delay in getting local option sales tax monies from the state. He also said that at the time of the audit, Hampton School District One owed the town $18,731 for the School Resource Officer. The district has since paid the town.
Hancock also said Varnville would be paying on capital leases and bond notes until 2019. The town had a capital lease for a garbage truck, a bond issue to refinance debt and a bond issue for new water meters and related construction costs. Hancock also said the town had gotten very low interest rates on the bonds. He said the interest rate for most of the debt was approximately 4 percent.
"We may never see it that low again," said Hancock.
After the auditor presented the audit to council, the council went into closed session and met with the auditor, the town lawyer and town clerk Christine Parker to discuss a personnel matter pertaining to the audit.
The council did not vote to accept the audit. They are expected to do so in January.