RED SPRINGS — Commissioners here received good news concerning the audit of the town’s fiscal year 2019-20 budget.

The town received an overall “clean audit opinion” Tuesday from Lee Grissom, of S. Preston Douglas & Associates.

“I was impressed with the direction the town appears to be going in,” Grissom said.

Contributing to that success was $1.4 million the town received during the end of the fiscal year from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for hurricane recovery. Another factor was the town’s property tax collection rate of 92%-94% from 2016 to 2020.

“2020 was the highest in the last five years,” Grissom said.

The collection rate is “on par” and in some cases “slightly” higher than some other towns in Robeson County, he said.

“We’re going to work on this some,” Finance Director Sharon McFarland said.

She and Town Manager David Ashburn have a “plan of attack for this,” McFarland said.

The town’s total cash from all funds has increased by $863,000, or 62% since 2018, Grissom said.

The firm did find three areas that need improvements, he said. Those areas were prior period adjustments, noncompliance with debt/service ratio for the Water/Sewer fund and improper reporting of federal awards.

The town has taken action to correct those findings, Ashburn said.

“We will show you more, unfortunately, that the town’s finances have been definitely in difficult positions and not done properly for an extended 20-plus years of time,” Ashburn said.

Some receivable accounts should have been written off, and about eight of the town’s 21 funds were closed to help with accounting measures, Grissom said.

Those errors have existed since the 1990s, and the firm made the town finance director and manager aware of them during the preliminary audit, Ashburn said.

The Water/Sewer fund took a hit in part because of Gov. Roy Cooper’s orders to extend utility shutoffs, resulting in loss revenue. But, the town is beginning to see more people paying bills, allowing more money to help remedy that, Ashburn said.

“This particular fund does concern me,” Grissom said. “Either the town has to raise revenue somehow or reduce services at the end of the day.”

The town has taken the findings to the Local Government Commission, which has disputed the improper reporting of federal awards, Ashburn said. The town was properly reporting funding during fiscal year 2019-20.

In other matters, commissioners once again discussed a plan to adjust trash pickup and cleaning up the town. No action was taken.

“When the town is not clean, it’s not healthy,” Commissioner Duron Burney said.

Commissioners were told that buying 1,400 blue cans, and purchasing three rear lifts for the trash trucks, would cost $95,253.54.

One option is to try out new services at Westgate Terrace, and use the information from that pilot project to form a new plan for the remainder of the town, Ashburn said. Providing services for the 100 units would cost $12,000.

The commissioners discussed having a public hearing on changes to trash pickup, but no date was set.

Commissioner Neal Lea’Kes said that while the commissioners put off making a decision, trash in the community continues to pile up.

Mayor Edward Henderson said that in “the near future” residents may get supplies, such as orange bags, gloves and vests, from Town Hall to clean up the town. The bags can be left for collection on the side of the roadways.

Also on Tuesday, the commissioners approved a Regional Hazard Mitigation Resolution. The resolution is a FEMA requirement that must be met by towns wishing to apply for hazard mitigation funding, Ashburn said.

The town’s safe practices during the Halloween holiday was praised by Ashburn.

The mayor urged residents to continue to celebrate the holidays with caution and help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“I would like to say that COVID-19 is real,” Henderson said.

“We also need to realize this holiday season will be like none that you’ve seen in the past,” he added. “Please be careful as you gather with your family during this season.”