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COMMUNITY
City’s reserves at
pre-recession levels
By DAN WHOM?
danwhisenhunt@reporternewspapers.net
A recent audit shows the city of San
dy Springs’ reserves are back up to levels
not seen since before the start of the re
cession in 2008.
City Council on Jan. 15 received a
report on the audit from Adam Fraley,
a CPA with Mauldin & Jenkins. Fral
ey said the city’s audit showed no find
ings, meaning there is nothing city fi
nancial staff will have to correct before
next year’s audit.
The audit for Fiscal Year 2012 shows
the city’s reserves, called a general fund
balance, increased to $35 million from
$21.5 million in Fiscal 2011. Fraley said
most of the balance — 95 percent — is un
assigned, meaning it hasn’t been desig
nated for any purpose. The last time the
reserves reached that level was in 2008,
the audit shows.
Sandy Springs Finance Director Kar
en Ellis said the increase in reserves is
partially because the city in 2011 rebid
all of its government service contracts.
“This was the year that the savings
were realized,” Ellis said.
City Manager John McDonough said
rebidding the contract saved $7 million.
The audit shows the city in Fiscal
2012 collected $82.2 million in reve
nue, mostly from taxes, a $2.8 million
increase over Fiscal 2011. The city in
Fiscal 2012 spent a total of $57.5 mil
lion, a $9 million decrease from the pre
vious year. According to the audit, Fiscal
2012 was also the first year since Fiscal
2008 where the city took in more tax
payer money than it spent.
The auditor did make a few observa
tions about the city’s financial practices:
Auditors noted that 16 city employ
ees built up more vacation time than
allowed under city policy. City spokes
woman Sharon Kraun said this was the
result of an error that has been correct
ed, and that no employee was able to
take or receive payment for more va
cation than allowed under city policy.
Auditors also found that there were
issues with the payments from the city’s
Hospitality Board. The auditors found
that “several invoices which were paid
that did not have the proper, indepen
dent, departmental approval.” Auditors
were unable to locate three hospitali
ty board invoices, the summary report
says. Kraun said this was the result of
switching over to a different accounting
system.
“Regarding the three Hospitality
invoices, the invoices were properly
routed and paid,” Kraun said. “Dur
ing the conversion to a new account
ing software, which was conducted af
ter the invoices were processed, the
invoices were missed as we scanned
back documents. They were never lost
or misplaced.”
Council provides
funds to nonprofits,
gives tax breaks to
Cox Enterprises
During City Council’s Jan. 15
meeting, council members:
- Awarded approximately $50,000
to local nonprofits. The city gave
$12,000 to Heritage Sandy Springs;
$7,668 to Mary Hall Freedom
House; $9,990 to the Child Devel
opment Association; $5,000 to Art
Sandy Springs; and $15,000 to the
Sandy Springs Education Force.
- Approved $1.4 million in tax
breaks for Cox Enterprises. The
company plans to construct a
578,000-square-foot b uilding at a
cost of more than $100 million. The
project is expected to bring 1,500 ad
ditional jobs to the city with an av
erage annual salary of approximately
$62,000. The company will receive
most of the incentives in 2013 in the
form of a $1.3 million impact and
building permit fee waiver. Cox En
terprises’ media holdings include the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
BRIEFS
Youth leadership
program enrolling
new students
Youth Leadership Sandy Springs is
looking for up to 30 ninth or 10th grad
ers who are interested in learning about
their community.
The program, offered by Leadership
Sandy Springs, wants to enroll students
by March 1 for classes during the 2013-
14 school year.
YLSS offers students a chance to
study government, the environment,
public safety, the economy and other
topics.
Applications are available at www.
leadershipsandysprings.org/ylss. To be
eligible, students must be rising sopho
mores or juniors who either live or go to
school in Sandy Springs.
For more information, call 404-252-
2787, visit www.leadershipsandysprings.
org/ylss or Facebook at Youth Leader
ship Sandy Springs.
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www.ReporterNewspapers.net | JAN. 25 — FEB. 7,2013 | 3
