CHELSEA – The city of Chelsea received a positive audit report at the Chelsea City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 19.

Wayne Barber from the DeLoach, Barber & Caspers P.C. accounting firm presented the annual audit at the meeting and said the city received a “clean” opinion with no exceptions, meaning all governmental accounting standards were followed.

“I’m pleased to report it’s all positive news,” Barber said.

Chelsea’s net worth went from $23 million the previous fiscal year to $25 million the year of the current audit.

“The city is growing,” Barber said. “The revenue base is growing. The sales tax is growing. Unfortunately, with that as you grow, expenses grow as well, but they’re managing that very well.”

The city spent less than budgeted and brought in more revenue than was budgeted, yielding a profit of $2.22 milion.

There was a $1.5 million increase in unrestricted cash, while restricted cash went down $800,000, which was to be expected based on expenditures for the Chelsea Public Library and other projects.

In other business, the Council:

• Elected Councilman Scott Weygand as mayor pro-tempore. The election was necessary after the resignation of Councilman and former mayor pro-tem David Ingram because of a change of address outside the city. Councilman Casey Morris nominated Weygand for the position, no other nominations were made, and the Council unanimously approved Weygand.
• Authorized free day passes to the Chelsea Community Center for handicapped youth.
• Authorized the purchase of multimedia and digital signage for City Hall’s audio/visual system.
• Granted Verizon access transmission services right-of-way use for fiber-based communication system.