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The city of Leesville is operating at a surplus for the first time since at least 2006, according to the audit for the 2011 fiscal year presented at Monday's city council meeting.
For the 2011 fiscal year, the city showed an excess of $51,322, an increase of $1.4 million from 2010, when the city finished with a deficit of $1,395,304; since 2006, the city has finished each year with a deficit of $1,005,387.
The city also decreased expenses by $1.7 million from 2010; the 2011 expenses were also the lowest since at least 2006. Included in that number were reduced general government, public safety and capital outlay expenditures.
Figures provided by Troy Courville, of Kolder, Champagne, Slaven & Co., LLC, showed that the city was losing money on its water and sewer departments; an average of $13.11 was being lost per customer, according to Courville. That figure, which includes depreciation, was $5 less than 2010, when the city was losing $18.84 per customer.
Courville said that the difference between the water and sewer losses — $6.08 per customer in the water department and $7.03 per customer in the sewer department — suggested a possible change in the city's rates.
"It kind of gives an indication that sewer rates need to increase," Courville said.
Leesville Mayor Robert Rose said that the city will look into the deficits in the water and sewer departments.
"The water and sewer funds provide the city substantial revenue for annual operating expenses and future replacement of water and sewer infrastructure," he said. "The bottom line is, the city cannot improve infrastructure and move forward on projects with a deficit in these funds."
With the water and sewer deficiencies, the city had a total deficit of $232,448 for the 2011 fiscal year, an increase of roughly $1.7 million from 2010 and the lowest deficit since 2008.
Courville also said that the city should continue to seek additional revenue to improve the overall fund balance; the balance for the 2011 fiscal year was $590,640. Courville said that the ideal balance for a city of Leesville's size would be enough "where the city could operate for three months with no revenue," or roughly $1.5 million.
"Our work is not done, but there is a definite path to improvement laid with this fiscal year's audit findings," Rose said.
Courville also noted that the audit found four internal control deficiencies and six compliance issues; Rose later said that many of the compliance issues were already being taken care of in the 2012 audit. Those issues included exceptions to the budget act not being met and an exception related to grant funds not being disbursed timely.
At Monday's council meeting, city administrator Hugh King also told council that work would begin near Jeane and Martin Luther King Streets to install two 12-inch isolation valves on city water lines. King was still in the process of determining when the installation would take place, but King and Rose noted that customers would be without water for a time period, noting that this would be a planned outage.
More information on the outage will be provided by the city in the coming days.
King also said that the city will be commencing their smoke testing on city water and sewer lines this week, with emphasis being placed near Kings Road, Jeane Street, Allison Avenue and Columbus Circle in the Lees Hills area.
Councilmembers also commended the public works department for their actions in repairing the water main on Sartor Street last week which caused numerous residents to be without water.
"They take care of them (water leaks) as soon as they can, and we're thankful for that," councilman Joe McKee said.
King noted that the city had not yet received a bid from the contractors, MPB Construction, LLC, B&D Trucking and Apeck Construction, for work performed on the water main last week.
The city of Leesville is operating at a surplus for the first time since at least 2006, according to the audit for the 2011 fiscal year presented at Monday's city council meeting.
For the 2011 fiscal year, the city showed an excess of $51,322, an increase of $1.4 million from 2010, when the city finished with a deficit of $1,395,304; since 2006, the city has finished each year with a deficit of $1,005,387.
The city also decreased expenses by $1.7 million from 2010; the 2011 expenses were also the lowest since at least 2006. Included in that number were reduced general government, public safety and capital outlay expenditures.
Figures provided by Troy Courville, of Kolder, Champagne, Slaven & Co., LLC, showed that the city was losing money on its water and sewer departments; an average of $13.11 was being lost per customer, according to Courville. That figure, which includes depreciation, was $5 less than 2010, when the city was losing $18.84 per customer.
Courville said that the difference between the water and sewer losses — $6.08 per customer in the water department and $7.03 per customer in the sewer department — suggested a possible change in the city's rates.
"It kind of gives an indication that sewer rates need to increase," Courville said.
Leesville Mayor Robert Rose said that the city will look into the deficits in the water and sewer departments.
"The water and sewer funds provide the city substantial revenue for annual operating expenses and future replacement of water and sewer infrastructure," he said. "The bottom line is, the city cannot improve infrastructure and move forward on projects with a deficit in these funds."
With the water and sewer deficiencies, the city had a total deficit of $232,448 for the 2011 fiscal year, an increase of roughly $1.7 million from 2010 and the lowest deficit since 2008.
Courville also said that the city should continue to seek additional revenue to improve the overall fund balance; the balance for the 2011 fiscal year was $590,640. Courville said that the ideal balance for a city of Leesville's size would be enough "where the city could operate for three months with no revenue," or roughly $1.5 million.
"Our work is not done, but there is a definite path to improvement laid with this fiscal year's audit findings," Rose said.
Courville also noted that the audit found four internal control deficiencies and six compliance issues; Rose later said that many of the compliance issues were already being taken care of in the 2012 audit. Those issues included exceptions to the budget act not being met and an exception related to grant funds not being disbursed timely.
At Monday's council meeting, city administrator Hugh King also told council that work would begin near Jeane and Martin Luther King Streets to install two 12-inch isolation valves on city water lines. King was still in the process of determining when the installation would take place, but King and Rose noted that customers would be without water for a time period, noting that this would be a planned outage.
More information on the outage will be provided by the city in the coming days.
King also said that the city will be commencing their smoke testing on city water and sewer lines this week, with emphasis being placed near Kings Road, Jeane Street, Allison Avenue and Columbus Circle in the Lees Hills area.
Councilmembers also commended the public works department for their actions in repairing the water main on Sartor Street last week which caused numerous residents to be without water.
"They take care of them (water leaks) as soon as they can, and we're thankful for that," councilman Joe McKee said.
King noted that the city had not yet received a bid from the contractors, MPB Construction, LLC, B&D Trucking and Apeck Construction, for work performed on the water main last week.
