Faith receives clean audit report
Published 12:10 am Sunday, January 19, 2025
FAITH — The Faith Board of Aldermen received a clean audit report during the meeting on Tuesday.
Auditor Eddie Carrick performed the audit for the most recent fiscal year, and stated that when compared to towns of similar size as Faith, they were likely in the top 10 percent in terms of financial stability.
“Y’all should be proud. I deal with some towns that aren’t in nearly as good a financial position as what y’all have here. And, between me and the others in my office we deal with almost 50 small towns around North Carolina, so we get to see the good, the bad and the ugly,” said Carrick.
He provided the town with an unqualified opinion in his audit, which means that the town’s financial reports accurately report its expenditures and revenues.
The N.C. Local Government Commission, a branch of the N.C. Department of State Treasurer, requires that any county or municipality that has “indicators of concern” sign a letter outlining plans to answer the issue. Faith had no indicators of concern, said Carrick.
“I’m tickled that we have been able to do what we have and are still able to get that great report,” said Mayor Randall Barger.
Mayor Pro Tem Peeler pointed to the purchasing of a new utility vehicle for public works as one of those achievements, which he said the aldermen were able to do “without batting an eye” because of the financial position the town was in.
He also pointed to the town’s fund balance available in relation to the town’s annual expenditures as a strength. Fund balance available represents funding in savings that the town can access and use for anything, and stood at $1,478,639 or 199 percent of the town’s expenditures. That means that if the town were to suddenly stop receiving revenue, it could still fund itself for almost two years, however the aldermen noted that one catastrophic issue could wipe that out.
“We’re set good, but you don’t want to deplete that good either, because one big (expense), like a water main break or something like that, and (it’s gone),” said Peeler.