Mayor pleased with audit report

By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
April 4, 2002
Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith said Wednesday he was pleased that the city's official audit shows finances were in good shape at the close of the last fiscal year on Sept. 30.
Smith said the audit covering the one-year period from Oct. 1, 2000, to Sept. 30, 2001 was one of the best he's heard in the last nine years.
On Tuesday at the regular city council meeting, representatives from the Breazeale, Saunders &O'Neil Ltd. accounting firm briefed council members on the city's annual, official audit.
Paul Breazeale, an accountant with the firm, told the council that the "city had a good year. They had positive bottom line on the general fund and a nice balance."
The city ended the fiscal year with nearly $4 million in its general fund budget. During the same time, the city received about $20 million in both property and sales tax revenues.
Smith said Wednesday that the city's recent sales tax figures have continued to look good, thanks to the opening of the new Wal-Mart SuperCenter and other businesses last year and this year.
The mayor said the city has not yet been able to gauge how the new Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse will affect sales tax revenues. Lowe's opened last month.
Skipper, the city clerk, said that Meridian has remained in good financial shape because of its conservative approach to operating city government