ESCANABA — The Escanaba City Council took a good look at dollars and cents in the city Thursday during its regular meeting. While there was no public comment during the first of five planned public hearings on the city’s upcoming 2019-2020 fiscal year budget, council members did get a clear picture of where the 2018-2019 budget took the city during a report on the city’s audit.

The city was given an “unmodified opinion” by accounting firm Rehmann Robson. This opinion, also known as a “clean” opinion, recognizes the city’s audit was prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

“It is important for everyone in the community to know we are doing things right,” said Mayor Marc Tall of the audit opinion.

The city’s net position is well in the black, with nearly $60 million in assets over liabilities — representing a change of more than $4 million compared to the city’s position in the prior fiscal year.

The change is the result of a number of factors including a reduction in outstanding bonded debt by $495,000, actual expenditures coming in at around $300,000 less than budgeted, and revenues coming in at roughly $16,000 more than anticipated.

Moving deeper into the black is something the city has been working on for some time. In 2015, the city’s general fund balance was roughly $4 million. By 2018, the general fund was at nearly $4.8 million.

Property taxes represented the largest portion of the city’s revenue — nearly 55 percent. State shared revenue and charges for services made up another 12 percent of the city’s revenue, with operating grants and other revenue sources rounding out the mix.

When it came to expenditures, public safety received the most funding. Streets and recreation also received larger proportions of the city’s funding than many other departments.

Spending and saving money remained the focus of the meeting even after the audit report was finished.

The council approved the purchase of a service truck for the water department at a cost of $27,000 from Riverside Chevrolet. Unlike in past years, the city intends to forgo the typical orange paint job given to many city vehicles, and opt for a white or gray colored truck. It is believed this will make the truck more salable in the future, and allow the city to sell and replace the vehicle in a few years without taking a major loss.

The city also approved the second year of a deficit elimination plan for the Escanaba Downtown Development Authority. On paper, the DDA is functioning in the red as a result of an internal loan the city gave the DDA for the construction of the new farmers market building on Ludington Street.

“The reason this is a necessary item is the loan that we gave to the DDA for the marketplace couldn’t be shown on the books as revenues, but it is showing as a liability,” said City Manager Patrick Jordan.

Deficit elimination plans are required by the state for funds that operate in the red. While the DDA will remain on a plan for a few more years, it was reported at the meeting the DDA is approximately $40,000 ahead of schedule on its repayment to the city and may exit the plan earlier than anticipated.

On the revenue side, the city approved raising the transient slip rates at the Escanaba Marina by $2 per night and increasing the seasonal rates by 4 percent.

The council also approved one item that will have no net effect on the city’s budget. Carpet in the library will be removed and replaced by Henyssen-Selins following damage to the flooring by an exploding light bulb in October. The project will cost $59,040, but will be paid entirely through insurance.