The Centralia City Council Monday night was told overall they had a pretty good year . Keven Tempen of C.J. Schlosser and Company LLC presented the annual audit report for the fiscal year ending December 31st.
“The city really had a pretty good year. Anytime you can have your governmental funds increase by about 3.4 million dollars. You do have to watch those rates with the water and the sewer and that’s everywhere not just here. It’s hard to keep those rates with inflation and its always something you can try to do is keep it steady, not a big increase just steady.”
Tempen says the general fund alone showed a $1.7-million improvement helped along by federal COVID-19 relief money. The yearly audit does show a nearly $10.9-million increase in the IMRF, police and fire pension liabilities, but after the meeting Tempen said it shouldn’t be an overriding concern.
“They keep extending the time period when they really need to be funded by. Now the state has the funds in their hands and they invest the way the want to and pretty much tell you what they want your levy to be. I hate to see them extend it again, and I don’t think it’s a problem for the city, they will catch up over time. That’s my view on it.”
Overall, the city’s assets exceeded its liabilities by $13.4-million.
The council approved a new water sales agreement between the City of Centralia and the Village of Irvington that will expire in December 2023. The rate per thousand gallons will increase to $4.00 on July 1st, compared to the 2022 rate of $2.89 per thousand gallons. There will be an annual increase during the life of the contract based on the consumer price index.
The council approved the closure of several downtown streets on July 15th for the Centralia Summer Market.
