- Despite a multi-million dollar shortfall that happened last year, the Wakulla County Audit Committee says finances are looking better than they expected.
- The committee met Thursday for their last meeting of the year.
- Watch the video to see what they discussed and the breakdown of the county's finances
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The Wakulla County audit committee monitors the county’s general funds including others like building funds, revenue stabilization, and public safety.
Others are road funds, one-cent sales tax, landfill, consumer, and golf course funds.
In October last year, I told you about a multi-million dollar shortfall made by the Wakulla County Property Appraiser's office.
Wakulla Property Appraiser addresses 'fat-finger' tax roll mistake
After this happened the audit committee recommended a temporary hiring freeze for any positions under the general fund and began monthly audit meetings.
Wakulla County leaders consider hiring freeze following tax mistake
I asked the Wakulla County Clerk and Comptroller, Greg James if this error impacted last year's budget.
"It did impact the budget."
He says it impacted the general fund.
"When we adopted the budget, we expected to spend about $400,000 more than we were gonna bring in and our preliminary numbers show that we only spent $175,000 more so we did better than we thought when we started the year."
James says they made it work by having to delay some expenses for the Fire Department, Sheriff's Office, and others.
"We ended up better off than we expected at the beginning of the year."
He added that all of the funds except for funds Wakulla for Sands Golf Course ended the year with positive cash and surplus fund balance.
“The golf course fund hasn’t been operational for an entire year so it’s too early to tell how that golf course is going to do too, but we expect it to do well.”
To be clear, James says the county does not have more cash this year compared to last, but several millions of dollars were acquired and saved over time with one-cent sales tax and revenue stabilization funds that they plan to spend on major projects.
