Other business
Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Cumming City Council:
* Approved Gary’s Grading and Pipeline Co.'s bid of about $213,000 to relocate water lines along Kelly Mill Road. A Forsyth County project, the effort is part of future expansions to the Big Creek Greenway Trail and in preparation for a new elementary school nearby. Mayor H. Ford Gravitt said he planned to ask the county to pay the fee out of green space bond money since the city had not budgeted it.
* Authorized the mayor to sign all documents relating to the opening of a North Georgia College & State University campus. The new campus, which will be off Pilgrim Mill Road, will offer undergraduate and graduate courses from North Georgia and Gainesville State College.
* Chose High Tech Systems' bid of $920 for repairs to a security camera in the lobby of city hall.
* Met Carla Wilson, the Cumming Aquatic Center’s new manager. Wilson has more than 20 years of experience in aquatics, most recently nine years with a Disney Cruise Line facility in the Bahamas. Assistant manager Jeremy Howell was not able to attend the meeting due to illness.
* Signed a proclamation declaring April 19 as Patriot’s Day in the city and recognizing members of the Sons of the American Revolution.
-- Crystal Ledford
An independent audit has found the city of Cumming’s finances to be in good shape.
Charles Cole of Leroy, Cole and Stephens LLC presented a summary of the audit to the mayor and council during their monthly meeting Tuesday.
Cole said the report was a “fair representation of the financial position of the city.”
Cole said the report indicated the city, at the end of December, had total net assets of $207 million, liabilities of $6 million, and $201 million in equity.
The city’s general fund indicated $9.5 million in revenues.
“Of course, most of that is from local option 1-cent sales tax,” Cole said.
The city receives a portion of the tax from Forsyth County. Cumming does not levy property tax.
Cole said the general fund saw expenditures of $8.2 million.
The capital projects fund had expenditures of $10.4 million. Cole said the “vast majority,” or about $8 million, of that total went to the city’s aquatic center, which is being built on Pilgrim Mill Road.
Cole complimented the city’s employees, noting “all departments stayed within budget” for 2010.
“We had a hairline budget and we had to walk the line to make it balanced,” said Mayor H. Ford Gravitt.
The city’s utilities department, which has a budget separate from the general fund, was found to have total assets of $123 million, about $101 million of which are in capital assets such as tanks, pipelines and the city intake facility.
Total operating revenue in the department last year was about $14 million, up about 16 percent from the previous year.