by Blake Proctor
With Councilmember Derek Druzak excused absent, Mayor Sam Allen called the February 2nd Tar Heel Council meeting to order at 6pm. The Pledge to the Flag was recited and Mayor Allen offered up the invocation.
There were no public comments, and the Consent Agenda was quickly dispatched. Mayor Allen introduced Bryan Scott, a principal with regional CPA firm Thompson, Price, Scott, Adams and Co., to present the Town’s financial audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020.
Mr. Scott presented a summary of findings to the Board, stating that revenues had decreased year over year by 35.5%, from $83,633 to $53,951. Annual expenditures were also down, from $81,755 to $76,400, a 6.5% drop of $5,355.
Consequently, the $22,449 deficit caused a corresponding decrease in the Town’s Fund Balance from $94,536 to 72,087. Nevertheless, the decrease in expenditures resulted ironically in an increase in undesignated Fund Balance percentage from 63.9% to 76.9%, surely much to the pleasure of those municipal bogeymen, the State’s Local Government Commission.
Lagging tax receipts were partially to blame for the revenue downturn, as the rate of receipts dipped to 88.1% of taxes billed out. It was noted that this may have been due in part to the ongoing Xi Jinpingfluena pandemic.
Turning to Old Business, the discussion reverted once again to the topic of Christmas decorations along Main Street/NC Hwy 87. Alternative suppliers have been looked at, and the prices and apparent quality of the Mosca product line were intriguing.
Councilmember Mike Underwood reminded the Board that looking for decorations first was placing the cart before the horse; that the first order of business was to contact Four-County Electric Membership Corporation to determine the feasibility and cost of running wiring down selected poles on NC87 and dropping electric “pigtails” to hook up the decorations.
On a motion by Councilmember Angeline Hall, and a second by Mr. Underwood, the vote was a unanimous 2-0 to task the Mayor with contacting Four-County EMC to get the ball rolling. Mr. Underwood also reiterated that it may be a good idea at the same time to move some or all of the interior decorations out to NC87 to spruce up Main Street.
With the presentation by Mr. Scott on the audit report, the evening’s New Business had already been take care of. There were no matters of interest to come before the Council; the Mayor reminded the Board that the next meeting was Tuesday, March 2nd.
With all business concluded for the evening, the meeting adjourned at 6:35pm.
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