East Point is on its way to coming out of a fiscal crisis that has lasted nearly a decade.
City officials accepted Monday night the 2010 financial audit, which shows the city with a $3.9 million positive fund balance. Just seven years ago, the city faced an $11 million deficit.
“The city is doing great financially. The auditor said most cities would like to be in our financial position,” Councilman Clyde Mitchell said.
During the past two years the council implemented a financial recovery program that included laying off employees, eliminating unfilled positions, reorganizing departments and increasing employee contributions for health care.
“Despite challenging economic conditions impacting most local governments, we continue to operate successfully within the parameters of the council-adopted financial recovery plan,” City Manager Crandall Jones said in a news release.
The audit results were eagerly awaited after the city did not meet a Dec. 31 deadline for sending the audit to the state. Mayor Earnestine Pittman has been critical of the city’s staff for not delivering the document on time.
Resident Jean Wilson was glad to see the audit finally delivered, but was critical of the results because it included proceeds from an AT&T settlement of a Fulton County lawsuit.
Mitchell said he had asked the auditors about the impact of the money from the lawsuit and they had said the city would still be in good financial shape even if those funds weren't counted.
Councilman Lance Rhodes was very pleased with the audit results.
“The proof is in the pudding. We’ve come a long way, but we still have a ways to go. The staff has done a great job,” he said.
On Monday, Pittman did agree East Point’s financial situation was looking up, and said she hoped the city could now get busy on some of its planned capital projects.
Still, she said she had some questions about the audit that she was investigating. In a January address, Pittman called for Jones to be fired for mismanagement of the city’s finances.
“It’s still too early to see if I’m going to have to eat crow after criticizing Mr. Jones in my state of the city address,” she said.
