Highland receives 'an A-plus' on their 2010 audit report

Highland Township received an unqualified opinion from auditors Plante & Moran for its 2010 audit report.

“It’s the best you can get,” explained Clerk Mary McDonell. “It’s their version of an A-plus”

McDonell further added that Plante & Moran didn’t offer any specific recommendations other than having an actuarial report done again since it has to be done every three years.

Highland has since already had the report done.

McDonell said they were “very pleased” with the audit.

Total revenue for the township for 2010 was $8,380,165. The top three sources for revenue were state shared revenue for the general fund and dedicated police and fire millages.

The total revenue for police was $2,403,824, while the total revenue for fire was $1,225,897. State shared revenue was $1,227,324, while the general fund revenue from property taxes was $465,343.

The top expenditures for the township were public safety. According to the audit report, the expense of Highland’s contract with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department at $2,521,180 exceeded that of the revenue generated for police by about $117,000. However, McDonell said they were able to make up the difference from the police fund’s savings account.

But she acknowledged that the township would most likely not be able to do that again for the upcoming year.

“Next year, we may have to look at using some money from the general fund to make up the difference. The police fund’s savings account only had enough to cover 2010,” she explained.

Meanwhile, the fire fund came out ahead by $288,169 after expenditures, totaling $753,728 for 2010.

General government payroll costs were also one of the highest expenditures from the general fund at around $750,000, according to McDonell.

Nevertheless, the township came out ahead with $90,633 left over. McDonell attributes this to conservative planning.

“When we put together the budget for 2010, we estimated low on the property tax revenue because Oakland County told us we would be taking a cut and the same applied for shared state revenue,” she said. “So we budgeted for less and actually ended up with more than we thought.”