Chief Financial Officer Aileen Staples won well-earned praise from the Wake Forest commissioners Tuesday night two times.
First it was for the highest and best opinions for the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019, also referred to as the annual audit. CPA April Adams with the firm of Cherry Bekaert LLP gave the year’s financial report the highest praise with no suggestions for improvement.
Second it was for a money-saving move in which, after watching the bond market for several months Staples decided to ask for bids to refinance the remaining bonds from the 2009 bond referendum. “We’re very attractive,” she said, after the town received 13 bids with interest rates varying from 1.79 to 3.25 percent.
The slightly more than $4 million remaining on those 2009 bonds became “callable” on Feb. 1, meaning they can be refunded or refinanced at a lower rate any time after that date.
With the town’s financial advisors and town staff, Staples is recommending the proposal from Benchmark Community Bank with a rate of 1.79 percent resulting in a savings of $318,576 over the remaining life of the bonds through 2030.
As said, the town is financially sound. The assessed value of the real property in town was $5.3 billion as of June 30 compared to $4.9 billion last year.
The property tax collections totaled $27.7 million, an increase of $1.8 million over 2018, and 99.84 percent of the tax levy was collected. The statewide total for towns of this size is 99.23 percent collected, and statewide the collection rate is 99.23 percent. A note said “Collections exceeded budgeted expectations.
Total revenues in the general fund totaled $43.3 million, an increase of approximately $2.7 million from the $40.6 million in June 2018. Total expenditures in the general fund were $38.5 million, an increase of $1.6 million from the $36.8 million in June 2018. Total revenue from all financing sources over expenditures was $822,000.
Debt activity during fiscal 2018-2019 was three installment purchase agreements:
*$5,500,000 for the Downtown Streetscape in April 2019, a seven-year term at 2.74 percent
*$683,650 for general fund rolling stock in May 2019, a three-year term at 2.57 percent
*$3,500,000 for the Unicon Drive to house the Electric Department in October 2018, a 10-year term at 2.94 percent.
The town’s percentage of debt to its assessed valuation is 0.8984 percent. Town policy is to have the debt level below 2 percent of assessed valuation while the state allows up to 8 percent.
The town’s tax rate this year and for several years is 52 cents per $100 valuation with 11 cents for the independent Wake Forest Fire Department and 41 cents for general fund uses. Included in the 41 cents are the fees for garbage and recycling collection.
There will be a different funding scenario for the 2019-2020 fiscal year when the fire department will be included in the town’s governing structure.
