By Nathan Prewett, For the Tribune
PINSON – During a meeting on Thursday, April 6, the Pinson City Council heard an audit report for 2021/2022 fiscal year.
Charlie Polmatier delivered the presentation, which included an examination report for American Rescue Plan or ARP spending. He presented the financial situation of the city, starting with highlights of the finances in 2022 compared to the previous year.
The report showed that the net position of the city improved, rising from $8.9 million to more than $10 million.
“This is largely due to your investments,” Polmatier said. “Investments in capital assets and items in the city. So what you pay for out of cash, no borrowing. In fact you have minimum debt and liabilities overall.”
In the operational statements there was an overall $154,000 increase in the fund balance, including the debt service fund, for the year, which he said was good. In the general fund there was an $84,000 excess before the transfer to cover the 2021 warrant payments.
The unassigned fund balance of the general fund was just under $2 million, he said. This reflects an unrestricted reserve balance of approximately six months of operations. Polmatier said that this was also good and showed growth.
He spoke of an operational statement of the general fund for the past six years. In 2017 the total revenue was just under $3 million. That revenue grew to $5.3 million. The expenditure growth rose from $2 million to $5.2 million. $1.4 million was spent, with some of this coming from grant money.
Among his final notes was the ARP examination report that stated that there were no discrepancies or “unallowable” disbursements of funds.
Later in the meeting the council passed several items on the agenda. Among these was signage for the Pinson Public Library. The council approved the purchase of signs that would help clarify where the library is located since moving from its location at City Hall to the Rock School some years back. The purchase was approved for $2,557.
During public comments Pinson Valley Arts Council President KeiDie Ruff suggested that the city begin a regular first Friday event as other cities have adopted. She recommended having the free events take place on Main Street where there would be live music and other kinds of entertainment.
Ruff said that she wanted to bring more attention to the city with a first Friday event.
“The reason I wanted to do this is that I tour all around the world and I see this happening all around the world,” she said. “And as an arts councilor not only did we do our first movie here in Pinson now we’re trying to do this – we’re trying to do everything we can to bring attention to Pinson. We live here and even though we tour in and out the country this is where we live and we want people to know about Pinson.”
With no vote necessary, the council approved Ruff’s suggestion.
Afterwards Pinson Public Library Director Allison Scanlan delivered some updates, saying that they are partnering with the Parks and Recreation department to put on a “Great Bunny Hop” games event for children on April 22 at Bicentennial Park from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Additionally, the library will implement “silver spots” and “tot spots”, which are tablet devices that can be checked out for seniors and children respectively. The library is also preparing to kick off its summer reading program titled “All Together Now” and a launch party is scheduled for June 3.
In other business the council:
Approved the purchase of laptops and accessories for $6,970, and
Accepted a bid to purchase fencing for the Public Works storage yard for $32,468.
Pinson City Council meets on the first and third Thursdays of every month at City Hall on 4410 Main Street. Live-streamed meetings can be seen on the city’s Facebook page.
Nathan Prewett can be reached at nthomasp6@gmail.com.