By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The city’s finances are in strong shape, a Birmingham-based independent auditing firm told Alabaster City Council members while presenting its findings during an April 1 meeting.

City Council members voted during the meeting to accept the audit of Alabaster’s 2018 fiscal year, which ran from Oct. 1, 2017, to the end of September of last year. The audit was conducted by the Barfield, Murphy, Shank and Smith certified public accounting firm.

Alabaster earned an unmodified opinion, which “is the highest level we can give,” said BMSS employee Patrick Bowman.

Bowman said the audit did not include a management letter outlining ways the city can improve its finance and accounting practices, and said nothing rose to the level requiring the firm to include the recommendations.

“They went above and beyond what the standards require to give us peace of mind and customer service,” said Alabaster Chief Financial Officer John Haggard.

According to the audit, the city’s total assets exceeded its total liabilities by about $44.5 million at the end of the 2018 fiscal year.

During the 2018 fiscal year, the city received about $43.4 million in revenue, and had expenses of about $38.4 million.

The city contributed about $5.3 million to the city’s education fund, which is fed with 1 percent of the city’s sales tax and is earmarked specifically for Alabaster City Schools. The number was up slightly from $5.2 million last year.

BMSS also listed the top sales-tax generating businesses in the city during the 2018 fiscal year:

 

1. Walmart Supercenter
2. Lowe’s Home Improvement
3. Walmart Neighborhood Market
4. Target
5. Publix
6. Aldi
7. Belk
8. T.J. Maxx
9. J.C. Penney
10. AT&T Wireless

 

The audit also listed the top employers in the city for the 2018 fiscal year:

 

1. Shelby Baptist Medical Center
2. Alabaster Board of Education
3. AGC Automotive Americas
4. Lhoist North America
5. Shelby Ridge and Rehab Select
6. (tie) Mspark
7. (tie) Hibbett Sports
8. Ahava Healthcare
9. Deshazo Crane
10. Fresenius Medical Care – TruBlue Logistics

To view the 2018 fiscal year audit and previous years’ audits, visit Cityofalabaster.com/Archive.aspx?AMID=42