ROCKINGHAM — Both Rockingham and Hamlet received positive audit reports at their respectively monthly meetings Tuesday evening, with Rockingham reaching a 99.06 percent tax collection rate. That surpasses the state average. Hamlet posted a 100 percent vehicle tax collection rate for the past two years.
Ken Anderson, a CPA with Anderson, Smith and Wike, PLLC who presented both audit reports, said that Rockingham was able to maintain a virtually flat general fund despite taking on multiple projects, which generally causes governments to dip into the fund balance.
Rockingham’s general fund for governmental activities increased by $966,754 while the city’s business-type activities decreased by $950,249, a net increase of $16,505, a slight gain which Anderson commended the city for.
Both city’s showed significant increases in liabilities for post-employment benefits which was not the result of any actions by either city.
Anderson said Rockingham has a tax collection rate higher than the state average, which is around 98 percent, which he believed is the highest rate the city has had.
Revenues were less than the budgeted amounts primarily because the city did not receive some of the unrestricted intergovernmental funds that it expected, according to Anderson’s report, but the expenditures were held in check to comply with the city’s budgetary requirements.
Rockingham also maintained its AAA bond rating.
In Hamlet, the general fund revenues exceeded expenditures by $60,558 for the 2017-18 fiscal year. Hamlet’s fund balance as a percent of expenditures is nearly 42 percent, which Anderson said puts the city in “real good shape” because the requirement for a city of Hamlet’s size is generally 8 percent.
The liabilities for post-employment benefits — which affected both cities at no fault of their own — caused a total of almost $4.2 million on the general fund, but Anderson said the increase in water sewer rates should cover these projected losses.
“I’m glad to hear you say that,” said Councilmember Johnathan Buie.
Hamlet has a 96 percent tax collection rate with about $200,000 in past due taxes receivable which Anderson said could potentially be improved to 98 or 99 percent by hiring outside attorneys, as Dobbins Heights and Hoffman have done.