Page 10 The Shoreline April 2008
K R A M E R’ S
O A monthly Report
R by Town Manage}
Brian Kramer
E on events
Here is a snapshot of some of the things
going on in town.
1.Arrest Made- December 30. 2007
Robberies- Some outstanding police
work by our own Officer Sidney Lemay
has resulted in an arrest in the robberies
conducted last December 30. A suspect
QfiQfl fCramer Beaufort was taken into custody
as a direct result of Officer Lemay's
investigation.
2.Town Finances- I wish to correct
Ran error on my part from last month's
in town. S?zore/me, clarify some numbers published
in a local paper, and provide some
information regarding the town's debt financing.
• I erroneously reported that there was no legal requirement for the town to transfer
half of the Sales & Use Tax to the Beach Account. This was not the case. On October 16,
2003, the board of commissioners voted to implement this policy in a resolution.
•A local media outlet misquoted the years and amounts that the town's reserves
were affected by the error that was discussed at the Town Hall Meeting March 6.
The figures below represent the change to our Unreserved/Undesignated Fund
Balance after allocation of the Sales and Use Tax to the Beach Account.
2003, +$150,000
-$588,000
-$125,000
-$114,000
-$528,000
Financial Reserves
2004,
2005,
2006,
2007,
•The town's debt is outlined below:
Debt
Beach
Fire Truck -
Ladder
Fire Truck - Pumper
Public Safety Building
& Renovations
Land Lot C next to
Public Safety Building
Loan Amount
$8 million
$525 thousand
$272 thousand
$1.9 million
$255 thousand
Balance Remaining
$5.7 million as of 3/11
$384.5 thousand
after 06/08 payment
$249.6 thousand
$1.65 million as of 3/3
$214.9 thousand
Continued from Page 1
the sales and use taxes were transferred
each year into the Beach Escrow Account
that sum was not deducted from the
town's general fund, leading officials to
believe there was more revenue available
than there actually was. Simply put, a
substantial amount of money was being
treated as if the same money was in two
different pots.
Kramer is quick to note that to his
knowledge there is not a penny missing
anywhere and that the financial situation
the town now finds itself in is purely
a product of procedural problems that
masked the actual state of affairs and
permitted a problem to remain undetected
for too long.
Accordingly, one of the town's prime
priorities at the moment is to put into place
procedural practices that will preclude any
future financial upheaval. Town officials
will continue to keep in close touch
with state financial representatives. The
director of the Fiscal Management Section,
State and Local Government Finance
Division, North Carolina Department
of the State Treasurer was scheduled to
meet with town representatives as The
Shoreline was going to press. The town
is exploring hiring an interim director
of finance with a view to making that
position a permanent one, and a Citizens
Review Committee for Finance was also
being organized to provide another level
of expertise and advice.
Three PKS residents have agreed to serve
on that group. They are Andy Chused
3.Visit by the State Treasurer's Office- The Local Government Commission (LGC),
the arm of the State Treasurer's office that has oversight of municipalities' finances,
spent a full day at town hall the week of March 17. Initial indications are that we are
on solid ground for the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2008. The
LGC will discuss the results of their visit with me, two of our commissioners, and
the Citizens Review Committee in early April.
4.Donation of Wheelchair- Mrs. Elaine Temple of the Mayor's Committee on
Disabilities acquired a wheelchair for beach access and donated it to the town on
February 19. It will be housed at the Public Safety Building.
5.Army Corps of Engineers Dredging Project- Cottrell Contracting Co. completed
dredging operations in the PKS area of the Intracoastal Waterway and began to
demobilize the week of March 17. Wind and wave action has already taken a major
toll on the accumulated sand. Hopefully the sand that is no longer on the beach itself
is off shore and providing some protection to our shoreline.
fi.Mimosa Blvd. Bridge Project - We have hit a potentially major obstacle on the
bridge replacement project. State and federal agencies are in discussions concerning
the rating of the bridge. There is disagreement regarding the necessity for replacement,
which would have the affect of removing federal funding for the project.
7.Bike Time Trials- On September 27,2008, USA Cycling will hold their time trials
here on Bogue Banks. A resident of PKS, Brian Grenier, is organizing this, Brian has
approached PKS to request that a turn-around point be established here in town. The
race will be entirely on Route 58. There will be a detour off of 58 at Arborvitae for
approximately five hours as the athletes pass through town.
S.Construction at the Aquarium- The aquarium will soon be adding 50 parking
spots on the south side (inside the gate) of the road into the aquarium. Expect to see
some construction trucks.
Harveli & Company
Certified Public Accountants
Congratulates
Debra F. Harveli,
CPA, CSEP, CVA
Debra Harveli is one of only
twelve CPAs in Eastern
North Carolina to earn the
esteemed designation of
Certified Valuation Analyst
(CVA),
This certification gives her
additional expertise in the
field of business valuation,
litigation support and related
business advisory services.
Located in Morehead City, Harveli & Company, CPAs, is a
full service public accounting & financial advisory firm.
Harveli & Company, CPAs
Making Numbers Count
252-726-1040
www.harvellcpa.com
of Chused & Associates CPA'S; Joseph
Murphy, who worked as a federal budget
analyst, and Larry Starling, who worked
for 20 years in finance with IBM.
What is the status of the town's financial
reserves? The state stipulates that eight
percent of anticipated annual operating
expenses, enough to pay a typical month's
worth of bills should the need arise, should
be kept in reserve. When the PKS financial
dilemma was first identified there were
reports that the reserves had fallen to as
low as two percent. That was eventually
upgraded to five percent, still a significant
shortfall especially in view of the fact that
the reserves could be reduced still further
if all of the revenue anticipated in this
fiscal year was not realized.
To make ends meet, without further
reducing reserves, belt-tightening
measures have been instituted and the
town this year will not transfer half of the
sales and use tax monies - some $450,000
- into the Beach Escrow Account. That
should not materially affect plans to
retire the beach bonds early, but taking
that approach again during the coming
year could delay their retirement. There
is no indication that that approach will
be embraced,
Kramer emphasizes that the town still
has a serious problem on its hands and
is confronted with the task of identifying
those services that the town and its citizens
want, at what level, and at what cost. He
has been charged by elected officials to
explore every means of providing efficient
services in the most cost-
efficient manner possible.
That, he says, could require
some hard choices. One
of the primary goals in
charting a course to fiscal
health will be restoration
of the town's financial
reserves to the appropriate
level.
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