CARIBOU, Maine — Gisele MacDonald, of Felch and Company in Caribou, presented the City of Caribou’s audit for 2015 during the August 8 City Council meeting, held in the Municipal Building.
The auditor discussed the statement of net position, or balance sheet for the city.
According to MacDonald, total assets are $27,634,000, with total liabilities of $2,105,000, making Caribou’s total total net position $25,491,000.
“One thing that’s new on here that hadn’t been presented in the past is the way we handle pension liability which is listed as $451,000,” MacDonald said. “It’s the Maine PERS pension that the city participates in. The city pays Maine PERS for city police and employees. Because it’s a defined benefit plan and they receive a set amount when they retire, there’s a city share of that liability. We’re seeing much larger liabilities in some cases, but it depends on the level of participation.”
For the statement of activities, which the auditor compared to an income statement, there was a total cost of $14,816,000. MacDonald added that the bulk of this comes from the ambulance department, which is combined with the fire department.
The auditor proceeded to summarize the fund balance sheet, which does not recognize long-term debt or fixed assets, and is more based on “cash in, cash out,” and separates the general fund from some other non-major funds. Based on the aforementioned criteria, Caribou has a fund balance of $8,192,000 with assets totaling $9,740,000 and liabilities at $1,057,000.
MacDonald added that Caribou took in $4,486,000 more than they spent, stating that the recent $3 million Maine PERS refund contributed to this number.
“So the bottom line is that we’re in good shape and we’re doing everything by the book like we should be?” Councilor David Martin asked, to which MacDonald agreed.
Mayor Gary Aiken said he would look over the audit in detail and ask MacDonald additional questions once he and City Council get a chance to thoroughly review all the enclosed information.
