Town Increased Total Assets by $4.7M From Previous Fiscal Year

BLYTHEWOOD – Blythewood’s audit for the most recent fiscal year revealed no problems, the accounting firm that performed the audit reported to the Blythewood Town Council at Monday night’s council meeting.

“Everything was, in all material aspects, reasonable and accurate,” said Will Walls, certified public accountant from Love Bailey & Associates, “and that’s the best opinion the town can receive.”

The audit was for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2023.

The process was not, Walls said, a forensic audit, such as would be done in a fraud investigation, but procedures exist to spot such irregularities, and none were found. Also, he said, no problems were found with the town’s internal controls in regard to its finances.

Walls then shared some numbers with the council members – including a revenue increase of about $3 million from the previous fiscal year.

Roughly $600,000 of this came from new business licenses and franchise fees, he said, while $1.6 million came from American Rescue Plan Act funding, the infusion of funds to localities that occurred in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Town also made $146,000 more on its investments, thanks to a higher rate of return.

“The growth that’s coming into the town is helping generate more revenues through that stream,” he said of the substantial increase in the category of fees, licenses, and permits.

The Town’s biggest expenditure increase, meanwhile, was capital outlay, Walls said. The big-ticket items were the $3.1 million purchase of the McLean Road property and $338,000 worth of improvements made to Doko Meadows.

The Town also increased its payments toward debt principal – a change that resulted from the ability to use H-Tax revenues to reduce the town’s indebtedness.

Walls said the Town increased its total assets by $4.7 million, including $1.7 million in cash, from the previous fiscal year.