Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Audit, Statement Differ In Emmet

Former Emmet Mayor Dale Booker said the city's finances aren't exactly as incumbent Mayor Ottis "Chuck" Otwell says they are.

According to Booker, the information given to the Emmet City Council at the October meeting was from bank statements. This, he said, doesn't show the finances accurately.

An accurate accounting of the city's financial state can only be given through an audit, Booker said. Audit reports for the period in question show completely different figures.

In the report given to the council in October, the general fund was shown to be $110,701.47 by the bank statements for Dec. 31, 1991. But, figures from an audit performed by accountant Carl Dalrymple for the period show the general fund to have $155,042.

Funds in the street department budget according to the bank statement were at $25,250.15, with the audit showing the balance to be $26,339.

The Water and Sewer Department numbers were also different. The bank statement showed them to be $132,833.48, with the audit report being $181,244.12.

In the firemen's pension fund, the bank statement showing $23,806.21 and the audit being $35,145.

According to the statement, the P/R AIDC fund was at $609.83, with no such fund being in the audit report.

Under the bank statement figure, the total money the city had was $293,201.14, with the audit report showing 4397,770.12.

This, according to a summary sheet provided by Booker, shows a difference of $105,788.12.

Utilizing the audit report from Dec. 31, 1990 and the information provided for 1998, the city's total budget was $364,781.89, with a revenue loss of $33,598.06 from '90 to '98.

Booker said the way the figures were presented at the October meeting made it appear as though the city is doing better now than it was in 1990 when he was mayor.

He also pointed out during his tenure in office, the city replaced one tractor with two, one for the street department and the other for the water and sewer department. In addition, an old truck the city owned was replaced with a newer one.

While in office, Booker said, a truck was purchased to be made into a firetruck. However, this project never came to fruition as he was voted out of office.

Additionally, Booker said, the city began computerizing its records with him as mayor. Billing for water usage was being done by hand when he took office in 1978.