Ballwin's Audit Reveals $10 Million for City's Choosing

An annual audit of the City of Ballwin revealed that at the end of last year, the city had more than $10 million in funds for discretionary spending available.

The audit, which was presented to city aldermen at the , highlighted that the city finished 2010 with a total of about $15.4 million available. That amounted to an increase of roughly $684,000 more than the previous year.

The audit, which was prepared by Kerber, Eck & Braeckel, an accounting firm based in St. Louis, said the city's funding growth was primarily due to a 1 percent sales tax increase and the city's ability to finish the year under budget. The report also cited greater revenues from the city's electric utility taxes "due to an extremely hot summer," the report said.

Cities in Missouri are required to maintain the equivalent of about two months worth of operating expenses as reserve funding. In Ballwin’s case, based on the close of 2009’s expenses, Ballwin was required to keep about $3 million. The city had more than $10 million total for “unreserved” funding to be spent at the city’s will.

“A portion of the city’s net assets represents resources that are subject to external restrictions on how they may be used,” the report said.

In addition to the overall increase in funds, the city’s total debts went down by approximately $1.9 million.