Audit tells story of a thriving D’Iberville
A story in the Sun Herald
Young city’s finances prosper despite storm
By MARY PEREZ
meperez@sunherald.com
D’IBERVILLE –
The fiscal year 2007 audit for D’Iberville shows a more prosperous city than before Hurricane Katrina.
At the end of July 2004, when he became city manager, Richard Rose recalls D’Iberville had $7,400 in the general fund. Now the city has $7.3 million in the bank and $1.5 in receivables, which comptroller Sharron Perkins said is money spent by the city after Hurricane Katrina that will be reimbursed by FEMA.
One of the smallest and youngest cities in the state, D’Iberville filed a Comprehensive Financial Annual Report, which includes demographic information and economic figures for the past four years.
Robert Culumber, accountant with Culumber Fletcher Harvey & Associates, said D’Iberville will find out in September if it will become one of a handful of Mississippi cities to receive a certificate of achievement for its fiscal management.
“For a little city, they have dedicated employees and a hard-working staff,” Culumber said. This was the second year the accounting firm did the D’Iberville audit, and the first year the city applied for the certificate.
Rose said many of these millions in the city’s coffers are dedicated to capital projects, including improvements to Central Avenue and City Hall repairs. The city will also use the money to continue to attract development and grants for the city.
It wasn’t one thing that led to the dramatic increase in the city bank account, Perkins said. Property taxes haven’t increased and the sales tax revenue that soared after the storm has evened out. “It was a lot of simple changes,” like switching to inmates rather than a private firm to clean city hall at a savings of $7,000 per year. “Little changes added up to a lot,” she said.
Rose said the city hired Perkins, who has government accounting experience, “to help us tighten our grip on finances and spend more wisely.” Water collections that were once sporadic are now up to 98 percent. The city no longer needs to borrow $600,000 every November against the next year’s tax revenues and there is money in the bank to cover the payroll.
The mayor and council gave the staff authority to make the changes and showed confidence in their abilities, said Rose.
