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MONDAY, APRIL 18, 1988 <br /> <br />A special and duly-called meeting of the Council of the City of Martinsville, <br /> <br />Virginia, with Mayor L. D. Oakes presiding, was held Monday, April 18, 1988, in <br /> <br />the Council Chamber, City Hall, beginning at 2:00 P.M.,for the purpose of <br /> <br />continuing its consideration of City Manager Brown's recommended City Budget <br /> <br />for the City's fiscal year beginning July 1, 1988. All members of Council were <br /> <br />present, viz., L. D. Oakes, Mayor; Clyde L. Williams, Vice-Mayor; William C. <br /> <br />Cole, Jr.; Alfred T. Groden; and Allan McClain. <br /> <br />After the invocation and Mayor Oakes' statement of the purpose of this meeting, <br /> <br />Councilman Cole presented the following prepared statement, accompanied by an <br /> <br />exhibit (referred to in Mr. Cole's statement) showing fund balances at specific <br /> <br />dates: <br /> <br />At the close of our last meeting (held April 13th) we asked <br />ourselves, "What have we accomplished?", during which meeting we <br />spent an excessive amount of time over some rather small issues, <br />compared to our overall problem. <br /> <br />I doubt if the money that came under question would amount to more <br />than $100,000 and we have to make a decision on a $42,000,000 <br />budget. Please don't misunderstand me ...... I think that agencies <br />which spend public money, as small as some of the amounts might <br />be, should be subject to scrutiny, but only if we suspect excesses <br />in spending. Meanwhile, I have spoken in the past to urge Council <br />to look at the overall financial picture of the City --- not just <br />at one fund alone. <br /> <br />With that in mind, I have prepared my version of the overall <br />picture. A brief look at this picture should raise some <br />individual questions. (I have a few of my own). <br /> <br />As I understand it, the way we actually handle the City's money is <br />to ,'pool" all the money from all City funds, i.e., whatever is <br />retained in a checking account is used to "run" the City. For <br />eighteen months I have followed the monthly fund balances -- <br />seventeen months ago the total was $7.7 million, six months ago it <br />was $7.8 million; whereas, normally, it has been $9.0 million, <br />excluding $3.0 million in "Liability and Reserves". <br /> <br />On the exhibit I have prepared (including pertinent data from the <br />City Manager's Budget message for 1988-89), the total <br />unappropriated surplus (all funds) projected at July 1, '88, is <br /> <br /> <br />