PRINCE EDWARD – So far, so good.

Prince Edward County Administrator Wade Bartlett presented a mid-year financial report at the board's January 10 meeting and revenues are looking up.

“What I saw in the general fund was that we were approximately almost $570,000 exceeding…what I would've anticipated based on our past history in collections,” he said. “Most of that is dealing with the personal property…”

There was, he detailed, a large increase in the number of vehicles being assessed this year.

There were indications of almost 1,300 more vehicles in the county this year, it was noted; collections of personal property taxes exceeded expectations by about $368,000, according to a memo to the board.

“This was due to a large increase in the number of vehicles being assessed and the values of used vehicles holding steady,” the memo stated.

Collections of real estate taxes, it was also cited, were about $122,000 more than anticipated and local use and sales tax collections through October have exceeded expectations by $74,219.

Sales tax collections have exceeded expectations every month this fiscal year. The way the state gives the County the funds, the County has only collected the funds for the months of July-October. In each of the months, Bartlett detailed, they have exceeded the three year average.

“Last year, we only did that, I think, two months out of the whole year,” he said. “Looking at what I saw, that indicates that our local economy is gaining strength.”

He conceded it's not a lot, but it is something.

“I believe that's affected our collection rates in some of our other taxes. People are…better able to afford paying their taxes so the collection rate appears that it's gone up,” Bartlett said.

On the expenses side of the ledger, he cited that they've had a pretty mild winter, which has affected electrical and heating costs; he also noted their gasoline usage is not meeting their budget.

Collectively, the general fund has a positive variance of $192,338, which is about one percent less than expected for the first six months of the fiscal year.

“There's still a long way to go in this fiscal year and, while that's good news, what that will do is help fund that $600,000 that we have set aside for the fire and rescue squads,” Bartlett said.

The school fund, he cited, is not as rosy a picture. Revenues are $158,874 less than anticipated through December and are expected to be $433,887 less than the budget when the fiscal year ends.

It's mainly the result of declining enrollment, it was cited, plus the impact of the governor's caboose bill (the governor's budget amendments to the current biennial budget).

“Spoken with the superintendent, he and the school board are aware of this situation-they were aware of this situation as early as late September or early October-they have taken steps to mitigate this revenue loss and…they're gonna…reduce expenditures to match that revenue loss from the state so that they will not come back and ask for any more…,” Bartlett said.