ROCKWELL — The Rockwell Board of Aldermen received a positive report on the results of the town’s annual audit during its board meeting on Monday.

Tony Brewer, a certified public accountant based out of Lexington who specializes in auditing small municipalities, conducted the audit. Brewer said that while he could not provide an opinion on where the finances of the town were in a good position or not, he was able to report positive results on the indicators that the N.C. Local Government Commission looks at.

“From what I’ve seen, just being in my first year, I think y’all were diversified as far as revenue streams. I got a good handle on your expenditures, and you don’t have to worry about infrastructure, that’s a big deal right now. Infrastructure meaning, except for road infrastructure, water lines, proprietary fund, stuff like that. A lot of small municipalities really are hurting because of infrastructure,” said Brewer.

Brewer also provided the aldermen with a worksheet that went through all of the indicators and pointed out the highlights.

The main number Brewer pointed to was the available fund balance in relation to the town’s net expenditures. Rockwell has 127 percent available, which Brewer said is well above the mandated minimum of 34 percent and the average of 63 percent for towns of Rockwell’s size.

“At 127 (percent), that means that if we continue to spend at the same rate that you spent in 2023 you could stay open for about one year and three months with the unrestricted fund balance. The rest of the worksheet pans to general performance indicators, in which Rockwell has no concerns. If you go through all four or five pages, you’ll notice there’s no indicators of concern,” said Brewer.

When Mayor Pro-Tem Chris Cranford asked Brewer if the 127 percent number meant that Rockwell’s finances were healthy, Brewer said that he did not have the ability to determine that. He noted that it would be unhealthy if that number is high because the town refuses to spend money, but that Rockwell appeared to be in a strong position based on the numbers because of its balanced revenue stream. Rockwell’s sales tax revenue and property revenue were roughly equal, which Brewer said is a good place to be.

“Really, 2023 was a pretty uneventful year for Rockwell. We came out of COVID and that money is gone and there for two or three years, we have really forgotten what normal is,” Brewer said.

In other news from the meeting, the aldermen agreed to find a time in their collective schedules for a public dedication for the street that was renamed to honor former Mayor Beau Taylor. The board also voted to declare a 2005 F350 owned by the town into surplus to allow it to be sold. The town is replacing the public works truck with a newer truck.