Iredell sees uptick in county finances

By: Jim Mcnally | Statesville Record & Landmark
Published: October 22, 2011

Just one quarter into the new fiscal year, Iredell County leaders have found some small glimmers of hope in what continues to be a lagging and largely gloomy economy.

At the Board of Commissioners’ regular meeting this week, County Manager Ron Smith told the board that there have been increases in the fees collected by the planning and inspections departments over the same time last year.

Planning brought in just under $65,200 from July 1 (the start of the new fiscal year) through Sept. 30, an increase of 47 percent over the $44,400 collected during that same time period in 2010.

And the inspection department’s revenue of nearly $518,000 was 33 percent more than last year’s approximately $390,000 collections.

“These are good indicators,” Smith said. “Hopefully, we can continue these trends.”

Overall, the county had revenues of $25.4 million, which is up nearly $1.5 million, (6.15 percent) from this period last year. Expenditures were up too, however. Last year, the county spent $31.3 million during the first quarter and this year it topped $32 million, for an increase of 2.34 percent.

Revenues and expenditures are both down considerably from two years ago, when Iredell took in $28.4 million during the first quarter of the 2009-2010 fiscal year and spent $37.4 million.

Much of the falloff in expenditures can be attributed to the Iredell’s contribution to public education. In 2009-10, the county spent nearly $17.5 million on education in the first quarter. But the amount dropped to only $11.5 million last year.

This fiscal year, schools have gotten a slight bump to $11.9 million from the county.

Board of Commissioners Chairman Steve Johnson received the news of the slight uptick with some ambivalence.

“We’ve seen some increases,” he said. “But we still have a long way to go.”