Revenues down 3.9 percent, expenses down 12 percent, as county manages through economic downturn

Last week, The Blount Countian published among the legal notices the Blount County Commission’s annual Combined Statement of Revenues and Expenditures along with the Schedule of Blount County Commission Outstanding Debt, as required by state law. Both are reprinted here (right and below right). Notes to those two reports appear immediately following this paragraph and should help readers understand it. In addition, summary data taken from this and eight previous years’ financial statements are given directly below to help readers follow trends from 2001 through 2009. Brief comments on that data are given below that chart.

Notes on chart Combined Statement of Revenues and Expenditures

General – This category includes revenues and expenses related to overall county operations, not including expenses of road repair and maintenance covered by county commissioners’ district budgets, and certain other items. General revenues were up 1.4 percent and general expenditures were up 2.4 percent over last year.

Special Revenue – This category includes revenues collected and expended on a single, specific purpose, such as tobacco tax monies used to fund the school resource officer program. It also includes the country’s prorata share of the state seven cents gas tax used to maintain roads, along with grant monies from the state and other sources. The 9.1 percent decrease in special revenues reflects the effects of the economic downturn, particularly in reduced gas tax receipts. The reduction is further reflected in a dramatic decrease of 26.7 percent in road and highway expenditures, compared to last year.

Debt Service – This category represents payment of principle plus interest on county long-term debt. Short-term debt for road equipment is paid from district road budgets, and as such is not shown as a separate item on the income/expense statement, although it is detailed in the outstanding debt schedule appearing below.

Capital Projects – This category includes specific improvement projects that have continuing value over time, such as a public water or sewer project. The $190,000 shown as a general governmental expenditure was for operation of the Blount County economic development office. Of that amount, $100,000 came in the form of a grant from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA).

Trust and Agency – This category includes monies that the commission holds “in trust” for other departments of government, such as monies from the state used to fund operation of the district attorney’s office, and pistol permit fees held for remission to the sheriff’s department.

Other Financing Sources – This category includes borrowed money and permissible transfers from one account to another.

Outstanding Debt as of Sept. 30, 2008 – (separate chart, below right). Noteworthy is that the general obligation warrant dated June 1, 2003, pays out June 1, 2011, thus liquidating the county’s single largest debt category. That will free the county of the amount of annual payment, which can be used for other critical needs. The last remaining full payment will be made in 2010, with only a partial payment remaining in 2011.