City of Eunice: 'Not in the Red'

The City of Eunice received a clean bill of fiscal health from auditors at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
According to the city auditor comparative analysis, Eunice improved its 2013 general fund balance– which showed significant improvement over the 2012 balance.
The findings came like an early Christmas gift to Mayor Claud “Rusty” Moody.
“For the last year, 11 out of 12 months, Eunice was first in the parish for sales tax revenue,” said Moody. “So that has to say something good about the City of Eunice, the merchants and the people. We’re doing better, expenditures are down. We’re not in the red.”
As auditors with Vige, Tujague & Noel delivered the city’s audit report, it became apparent that cash and cash equivalents saw a slight increase from 2012 to June 30, 2013.
As far as a cash balance, the city appeared to have $353,369 compared to the previous $351,611 in 2012.
However, total assets for 2013 showed that the city had $838,693 up from 2012–when assets totaled $782, 137.
Liabilities for the city dropped from $359,679 in 2012 to $296,788 for the fiscal year 2013, according to the prepared report.
While revenues for the general fund took a slight dip in 2013– which saw $2,905,725 compared to the 2012 amount of $2,935,547– auditor Shirley Vige said that it did not indicate “any significant change”.
Overall, the general fund for the city saw an increase in excess funds that totaled $119,447 compared to $62,319 in 2012.
“So, generally, (the city) did okay,” said Vige before the Eunice city council. “The sales tax fund did pretty good. It had a half-a-million dollar increase and the net after we transferred $4 million out of it, we still had $660,000 net income, so to speak. The city did pretty good thanks to a good, hefty sales tax collection and it’s very good to have that.”
Vige referred to the fund balances in the “sales tax fund” for 2013– which saw a balance of $5.4 million– and for 2012– which saw a balance of $4.7 million.
According to Frank Tujague, the city’s “proprietary fund”– which compared revenues and expenses of the combined gas and sewer departments, revenue was “up in both departments”. The only increases in operating expenses for the city were in two areas: natural gas purchases and insurance.
The city’s expenses were down in every other category including “payroll and related benefits” to “utilities and telephone”.
Natural gas purchases surged to $684,348 in 2013 from $555,426 in 2012. This is possibly indicative of fluctuating gas prices.
However, as the billing saw an increase for the gas and sewer departments within the city of Eunice, total operating revenues also increased.
Much like last year, total operating revenues outweighed the charges for services.
The city saw an increase in billing in the amount of $177,109. However, the city saw an increase of total operating expenses in the amount of $192,491.
Even though expenses were down for the city, the gas and sewer departments were in the hole $243,794– which was an improvement over the 2012 figures. Last year, the gas and sewer departments saw a negative net position of $680,821, according to the report.
One of the most glaring trouble spots of the report ed audit appeared to be with in the “sales tax fund” expenditures as it pertained to public works.
The public works expenditure more than quadrupled with a 2012 expense of $40,173 to a whopping $333,711 for 2013.
Vige said that the significant increase was due to “a lot of maintenance” to the city sewer treatment facility.
The audit came as a welcome surprise to some of the council members.
“As of the present time, I think we’re in better financial shape than I thought we were in,” said Ward 1 Councilman Roland Miller. “I think that we had a real good audit. I don’t think it’s going to be that way for the next fiscal year, unless we get some money from somewhere. But we’re doing well right now.”
Scott Fontenot, the Ward 4 councilman, said that he was excited to see the sales tax revenues for the city increase from 2012.
“It was a significant increase and it’s exciting because it’s good for Eunice,” said Fontenot. “To me, I think that we have more businesses opening up now in Eunice. And that’s were that sales tax revenue has got to be coming from.”
Fontenot said that new businesses have not only opened in the city limits of Eunice , but have also sustained themselves in the city.
Mayor Moody said that this year’s audit is a good indication for next year’s projections for the city.
“Based on the comparisons of last year and this year, I’m hoping that we’ll see another growth next year like we did this year,”said Moody. “There’s no guarantee, but I would like to see that happen. That’s what we hope for.”
In a related matter, Steve Moosa, a Certified Public Accountant with Darnall, Sikes, Gardes and Frederick, announced that the city should take into consideration the calling of an election to re-dedicate a 1-percent capital improvement sales tax.
Moosa said that the city has an imposed 2.2-percent sales tax–which consists of .2-percent for sewer plant operations, 1-percent for general city operations and 1-percent for capital improvements.
Mayor Moody said that next month, prior to the January council meeting, the council will hold a public hearing to consider calling an election to re-dedicate the tax.