BUCHANAN — Monday’s Buchanan City Commission meeting featured the presentation of the annual audit, a report on the county’s purchase of the AEP building in the city and action on new police body cameras.

Auditor Brian Hake of the Kruggel Lawton accounting firm gave the city a clean bill of financial health in his audit report. He said the city received a clean unmodified opinion which he said is the highest opinion a government entity can get. The audit was of the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2023.

He reported that the general fund saw revenue being $432,058 higher than anticipated, ending at $3.57 million. Expenditures were $458,636 lower than expected, ending the fiscal year at $3.38 million. The final budget before the audit had forecasted a $700,000 deficit before transfers in and out, but ended up with a nearly $200,000 surplus.

Buchanan City Manager Tim Lynch said that over $435,000 was transferred out of the general fund-primarily charges related to the upcoming downtown infrastructure project. He said those charges were taken out of general fund expenses and re-allocated to capital project expenses.

Hake told commissioners that the $1.2 million fund balance represents 4.25 months of expenditures. The city had anticipated the end of the year fund balance to be as low as $280,550 according to the final actual budget numbers.

When asked about why the audit was done later than usual, Lynch said he had asked for and gotten an extension from the state to complete the audit by Jan. 31 when he came back as city manager in December. He said he asked for the extension due to the city staff turnover around the time of the fiscal year end.

Hake spoke briefly about the city’s pension fund. He said that it is still in good shape although numbers are down a little from past years. He blamed the drop on inflation and it being a “rough year” for the stock market.

The full audit is expected to be on the city’s website in the next few days.

In his comments at the end of the meeting, Mayor Sean Denison said that he understands when people ask him why taxes are so high in the city but asked people to be patient.

“I remember when my own business had built up debt in 2010 and my accountant said it took a long time to get into that situation and it would take a long time to get out of it,” he said.

“With the city, it took 30 to 40 years to get us into this position and we won’t get out of it overnight,” he added.

The status of the city’s finances had been the subject of speculation after claims last fall that the city was on the verge of a state takeover. Those claims stemmed from preliminary budget reports showing that the city had run a deficit in the last year or two and was anticipating a budget shortfall in the current year.

Berrien County Board of Commissioners Chairman McKinley Elliott gave the city commission an update on the county’s plans for the former AEP building on Circle Drive on the north side of the city. As Elliott noted, the building was once the Clark Equipment corporate headquarters and most recently owned by American Electric Power.

Elliott passed on an update from Berrien County Administrator Brian Dissette on progress at the AEP property the county purchased in 2022. Steps are being taken to get the building ready for county occupancy and more technology and other upgrades need to be done before the county’s Emergency Operations Center and 9-1-1 Dispatch office can move in.

Dissette’s update also covered the new 800 Mhz communications tower being built nearby on land behind the Buchanan Township Fire Department on North Main Street. The tower’s base and equipment shed are being constructed now in preparation for installing the tower later this year. That tower will improve communications along the stateline.

“It’s all coming together,” Elliott said. “We will be transferring people in from the EOC and 9-1-1 Dispatch by the end of the year. 60 to 90 people will be coming to Buchanan to work there. The building dates back to the 1970s and is solid … It should be a real asset to the community.”

With the action items, Police Chief Harvey Burnett presented the police department’s annual report and then got approval to buy more police body cameras. Burnett said the current cameras being used are problematic, hard to maintain and don’t always work.

The new cameras will be purchased from Axon Enterprises which is the industry leader in body cameras. Burnett said the department is buying six body cameras for $17,402.42 with most of the funds coming from