Audit Shows Oxford's Finances Are in Strong Shape

Oxford First Selectman George Temple announced that the audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014 showed the town had another great year financially.

Temple said the fund balance of the Town (the equivalent of a savings account for residents) increased from $6,127,712 to $6,355,464 an increase of $227,752, making it 12.87 percent of the amended budget.

Rating agencies that review the finances and credit of municipalities look for a fund balance of 10 percent or greater. The increase in the fund balance would have been even greater, but the town undertook several capital projects, using fund balance.

Those projects included the Construction of Lily Park, purchase of a new truck for Public Works and the purchase of a new vehicle for the Fire Chief. The following projects expenses were also included in the budget, but the grant revenue was not received as of the audit date. Those projects were the paving of the Riverside Firehouse parking lot, construction of the new Dog Pound and the renovations to the kitchen at the Quaker Farms Firehouse.

The surplus was mainly the result of revenues that were greater than budgeted for the Town Clerk, Building Department, Planning and Zoning and the WPCA.

Also the Town received about $425,000 for a tax sale of land that had many years of delinquent taxes.

“I want to thank all Departments, including the Board of Education for their fiscal accountability and operating within their budgets,’’ Temple said in a press release.

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