City Raked in Grants in 2013

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT
The city got a clean report card in terms of finances last night. Each year the city is required by law to undergo an audit and 2013 was no exception. During the City Council’s work session Michelle Drew of BDO USA presented the audit’s findings to the council. Drew led the 2013 audit and said in general it was a good year for the city.
In 2012 Drew advised the council to keep an eye on the shipyard fund, and she echoed that for 2013, but added that the financial situation in that area is certainly improving.
“The revenues in the shipyard are definitely up in 2013 relative to 2012. So that is something that is trending in the right direction in terms of helping this fund. Operating expenses held stead, so that’s also good. You know the increase in revenue matched with kind of a stable expenditure base. So we actually, our revenues did cover our day to day operating costs.”
Drew said there is still debt associated with this fund, but overall it is going in the right direction.

As far as grants go, Drew said 2013 was a phenomenal year for Kodiak, with almost $15 million going to the city in grant funding. That’s up $6 million from 2012.
“Sombody is really doing a good job writing grants around here. So definitely a lot of increases in just three short years, a huge, huge increase.”
Drew said those grant numbers are likely to go down as the city finished two major grant-funded projects in 2013.
“Couple big ticket items on here: library grant, $6.1 million and Baranof Park at $2.9 million were your two largest capital grant activities this year.”
She said the general fund performed better than budgeted in 2013 and most of the city’s enterprise funds, things like the boat harbor and water utility, are covering their day to day costs, and many are also covering depreciation of those funds as well.
The council will vote on whether or not to accept the 2013 audit during its regular meeting on Thursday.