ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — According to Will Rice, auditor with Hartman, Blackmon and Kilgore, certified public accounting firm in Fairhope, the City of Robertsdale is in good financial shape and have 1.89 million in cash on hand at the end of fiscal year 2010. Rice gave the annual Audit Report and a unanimous motion was passed to approve it at the Robertsdale City Council meeting Monday night.

With $28,746,797 in Total Assets that includes $9,535,541 in Governmental Activities (general fund) and $19,211,256 in Business-type Activities (utilities, sewer and water), and Total Liabilities (accrued expenses) of $17,964,416 that includes $7,192,077 in Governmental Activities and $10,772,339 in Business-type activities, the city is in a good cash position, Rice said. Total Net Assets (debt service) are $10,782,381 with $2,343,464 for Governmental Activities and $8,438,917 for Business-type activities.

The 2010 Fiscal year ended on September 30 and Rice said the City followed all the rules and had another good year. “You only had one major loan for the bucket truck and have done a good job of keeping your debt to a minimum.”

“Utilities are our bread and butter for the city and we have been able to do a good job and that has kept us afloat. Sales tax revenues ($1,605,273) and business licenses ($514,265) have been a big asset for us too,” said Mayor Charles Murphy.

Mayor Pro-tem Joe Kitchens had praise for the city as well. “You don’t see many cities with things that go as smoothly as we do it.”

The council also passed a motion to approve a one percent cost of living adjustment for city employees. According to Ann Simpson, city chief financial officer, the 2010 Consumer Price Index showed a 1.5 percent increase in the national average and a 1.4 percent increase in the southern region.

“The city’s 2011 budget included a cost of living adjustment of one percent and the salaries of the mayor and each councilmember shall be adjusted annually based on the southern region for the preceding 12 month period ending December as detailed by the United States Department of Labor. The annual salary adjustments shall be effective April 1, 2011,” Simpson said.

In other council business, a motion was passed to reject the one bid that came in for the street paving project so the council could negotiate for a better price.

“Since we only got one bid from Roads Inc. of Cantonment, Fl for $49.50 a ton for 4,500 tons of asphalt, we are going to try to see what other bids we can negotiate for and also advertise for contractors to actually lay the asphalt. This price is good for 90 days so we have time to see what else is out there,” said Greg Smith, city engineer.

A motion was also passed to approve new ball park tournament rules presented by Scott Gilbert, city public works director.

In the new rules, all park activities and events must be scheduled through the Recreation Department’s Athletic Division and applications should be submitted 30 days prior to the tournament date. A $300 security deposit is required with each application and a $250 rental fee per field per day with city personnel maintaining the field is also required. Concession stand rental is $150 each per event.

These rules and policy do not apply to local schools, churches, City of Robertsdale youth groups, civic clubs within the city limits and the Central Baldwin girls softball and Central Baldwin boys baseball leagues, Gilbert said, but would have to be approved by the public works director or recreation foreman.

All renters must present certificate of insurance prior to the start of the event and coverage must continue for the duration of the event and sign release of liability waivers as well, the rules stated. Also, no alcoholic beverages or illegal narcotics will be allowed on city property and will be strictly enforced. The city also reserves the right to cancel, suspend or terminate any activity if it is considered unsafe or the renter is not following the policy rules.

“We have had some complaints about some things with the ball field and we felt like a policy revision was needed. We also wanted to make sure we were respectful of the neighbors who lived around there by shutting the lights off at 11 p.m. We will probably need to have about 13 employees working these tournaments to allow everything to work smoothly,” Gilbert said.

Other council business included:

- Passed a motion to approve a full-page ad for $600 for Baldwin Rural Area Transportation’s booklet for their passengers to be distributed throughout the county.

- Passed a motion to send councilman Brent Kendrick to be a delegate at the Alabama League of Municipalities Convention on May 2.

- Passed a motion to donate $1,000 to the Robertsdale High School Marching Band for their golf tournament the last Saturday in March.

- Passed a motion to surplus two patrol car cages, two sets of window bars and one 2004 Ford Crown Victoria patrol car from the police department and one 2001 Dodge Dakota truck, two F150 Fiord trucks (1995 and 1996) and one 1999 Ford F250, a deck mower and old boring machine from the public works department.