Richmond financially in the black in '04

By Joey Hislop

March 23, 2005 | RICHMOND -- In their monthly meeting Tuesday, the Richmond City Council was addressed by Curtis Roberts of Jones-Simkins PC, the auditing firm that handled the city's audit for the fiscal year of 2004.

"Overall, the city is in pretty good shape," Roberts said. In addition to reporting on the financial state of things, Roberts also discussed the numerous changes to federal auditing regulations.

According to Roberts, the Government Accountability Office, which sets auditing standards for anybody auditing any government entity in the United States, is following the lead of other auditing bodies that have developed new standards in the wake of Enron.

"As a result of that," Roberts said, "we're seeing regulations that start coming into play, and some of those are dribbling into the government arena."

In other financial business, Recorder Boyd Lewis presented the preliminary budget for the fiscal year of 2006 for discussion by the council. The budget, although only not finalized, is more than $16,000 in the hole. The budget will also be discussed at the April meeting at which time a finalized preliminary budget will be proposed. The budget will then be decided upon in May.

In other business, the council heard from Jay Downs of Cache County EMS and County Fire Chief Kelly Pitcher concerning emergency communication devices used by the emergency personnel. They requested the acquisition of new pagers since the current ones are malfunctioning. The council agreed to the provision of new pagers and the reconditioning of old ones but has yet to decide how this will be financed.

Pitcher also illustrated changes that will be made to the radio towers used by EMTs in the Richmond area.

Local resident Dave Gordon made a request to be allowed to set-up booths again at this year's Black & White Days celebration. The council agreed to his request.

Gordon's request comes after a mishap that took place years earlier involving a paintball range run by Gordon.

And finally, the council approved the adoption of a proclamation to make March child abuse prevention month in Richmond. Sue Hoffman, director of the Child & Family Support Center in Cache and Rich counties presented the proclamation to the council.

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