MONTAGUE — Near-blizzard conditions Monday night didn't stop Brickley DeLong's Eric VanDop from delivering the City of Montague's audit report during a special meeting of the Montague city council.
After review of the 2024-25 fiscal year budget, the city received what VanDop called "a clean opinion," the highest it offers clients, saying the city appears in good financial condition.
The audit showed a decrease of about $94,000 in the city's fund balance, but the city retains a healthy $2.1 million general fund reserve. VanDop said based on the city's books, that amounted to about 10 months' worth of money, which he did not feel was excessive after being asked about it by the council.
There was a sharp decrease in revenue - about $710,000 - for the 2024-25 fiscal year, though there was a simple explanation; the White Lake Fire Authority paid extra money to the city the previous year to pay off bonds. Expenses also decreased significantly, by about $284,000, as the debt service on those bonds was wiped off the books.
Retirement pension funds and retiree health care were areas in which the city, VanDop said, has shown significant improvement after taking steps to address shortfalls over the past 10 years. According to the city's books, city pensions are nearly 92% funded, and retiree health care is in fact overfunded.
"You're seeing the dividends," VanDop said, of the city's efforts to address those areas.
The auditor said the city may want to keep an eye on the sewer fund - its balance is still strong, with $737,000-plus in unrestricted funds on hand, though it's been decreasing in recent years, with a $54,000 decline this past year. The water fund has seen the reverse, as funds have steadily increased.
There was a slight city budget overage in the area of roads, but that was not a surprise and was a result of the city carrying over some budgeted money for the Park and Hunt street intersection project from the previous year's budget, as the project was not yet complete before the 2024-25 fiscal year began.
