KIOWA — Elbert County’s financial situation is starting to look up, with revenues exceeding expenditures in 2010 — the first time since 2006.
On Friday, Elbert County commissioners submitted to the state an audit of the county’s finances for 2010, after previously asking for an extension.
And there was some good news for a county that was in a financial mess just two years ago and needed to put up many of its assets as collateral to secure a bank loan to pay off cost overruns and refinance debt of the new justice center.
In 2010, assets exceeded liabilities, with $14.8 million in assets and $9.6 million in liabilities, according to Eric Barnes of Wagner Barnes, a certified public accountant firm that performed the audit.
Also, the county cut its expenses by about 12 percent in 2010 compared with the previous year, while it saw tax revenues of $10.7 million, which was only $92,000 less than in 2009.
Given the state of the economy, the decrease wasn’t as bad as it could have been, officials said.
“It looks like you did a pretty good job of managing expenses,” Barnes told commissioners at a special meeting Friday.
Del Schwab, chairman of the Elbert County Commission, said departments throughout the county made sacrifices to help balance the budget last year.
“That’s due to the hard work of the entire staff and the leadership of the county,” Schwab said.
He also said that county commissioners have learned from the mistakes of other commissions in recent years, when they made moves that put the county in the red.
Commissioner John Shipper said the effort must continue. He worries that the county could run out of revenue by the end of the year, so employees must continue to be diligent in how they spend money.
“It is my intention this year to have a balanced budget,” he said.
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
