SNOW HILL — There was good news and bad news at Greene County’s Board of Commissioners’ meeting last week.
After nine more budget amendments were approved by the board, the budget shortfall is down to about $161,047. It once topped close to $800,000.
Interim County Manager Richard Hicks said getting the shortfall down to zero by June 30 is “still a work in progress.”
“I think we may be close (to zero),” he said, “because there’ll be a lot of departments that haven’t spent all their money.”
The board approved its budget hearing to be 7 p.m. on June 20 at its regular meeting. It also voted unanimously for Hicks proposal to continue his interim position for awhile longer until the budget problems are corrected.
But more budget surprise were revealed about an accumulation of deficits from the N.C. Sweet Potato Festival since 2009 and two unpaid bills from last fall’s event.
The general fund has covered the festival’s deficits totaling $20,356 since 2009, Hicks said. With the 2012 balance of about $3,269, the deficit currently totals $17,086.
The two unpaid bills are nearly $1,274 from Rand Wade Oil Company and about $2,489 for renting generators from Hertz Rentals.
The Sweet Potato Festival committee recently requested the $3,269 left over from last year’s festival. The request prompted Hicks to look over records from the festival’s past years.
In 2008, the first year of the festival, the revenues exceeded the expenses by about $5,063.
But a continuing a review of the records revealed expenses exceeded the revenues for the next three years. The deficits totaled nearly $11,267 in 2009, $5,183 in 2010 and $8,970 in 2011.
“So when you look at the five years,” Hicks said, “your general fund has actually covered $20,356.16 of the losses that have been accumulated by the Sweet Potato Festival.”
An appropriation of nearly $3,400 would need to come out of the fund balance, he said.
The previous finance officer had set up a separate checking account last year for the festival fund, which has about $363 left over in it. The $3,269 balance in the budget and the bank balance total about $3,632, while the unpaid bills total about $3,763.
Hicks said the auditor, Jay Parris, had thought the county had set up a separate fund, not a bank account, for the festival. A bank account
“What we’re asking for this evening in this budget amendment,” Hicks said to the board, “is to cover the cost of those invoices, and also I request that once those invoices are paid that you authorize us to close that account, and basically not assume anymore financial responsibilities or any financial duties for the Sweet Potato Festival.”
Chairman Jack Edmundson said, “It just keeps getting deeper, don’t it.”
Another amendment included correcting errors in the health department fund which created a shortage totaling $3,173 in the general fund.
A hydrogeologic evaluation on the Central Coastal Plain Capacity Use Area restrictions was performed for Greene County and Farmville. The study was done to present a case to prevent having to increase alternative water usage from the current 25 percent to 50 percent.
Greene County’s portion is $30,400 of the $38,000 cost because most of the work was done in Greene, Hicks said.
There were also a couple of amendments that increased revenue and decreased the shortfall.
Tax collections and recreation fence sign rentals have increased the fund balance by $164,491.
“Due to the hard work of our tax office,” Hicks said, “we’ve seen some significant increases in the amount of past-due taxes collected.”
Of that revenue increase, $5,000 was appropriated to pay for the recreation department’s under-budgeted equipment needs.
In addition, the county filed the paperwork to receive the gas tax refund from about March of last year to early 2013 — a task that had been previously neglected. The federal portion of $8,573 was received recently. Hicks said he anticipates at least $11,000 from the state before June 30.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.