MURFREESBORO – “Going in the right direction” was the phrase that kept being repeated during the Murfreesboro Town Council’s regular meeting on May 10. The town received their audit report for the 2016 fiscal year, and it contained good news.

Revenues for the fiscal period that ended on June 30, 2016 totaled $3,242,957. That’s slightly lower than the $3,313,563 from the year before. But the town’s expenditures were down to $3,055,090 from previously $3,108,913 at the end of the 2015 fiscal year.

Overall, the town showed great signs of financial improvement compared to previous years. Looking back at the town’s General Fund, the trend was that expenditures outweighed revenue.

In 2014, for example, the town’s total revenue in the General Fund equaled $1,897,726 and the total expenditures were $2,224,840 marking a negative difference of $327,114. This trend of higher expenditures over revenues extends back as far as 2010.

The 2015 fiscal year, however, began to look better with a positive gain of $74,723. This number almost doubled in 2016 with a total of $140,516 in revenue over expenditures.

General Fund revenues also exceeded budget expectations. Actual revenues for the 2016 fiscal year totaled $1,916,987 which is up from the budgeted number of $1,829,849. Similarly, the budgeted expense amount was $1,830,464 and actual expenses totaled $1,776,471.

The town’s unassigned fund balance also increased to $764,970 for fiscal year 2015-16. That represents an increase in excess of $110,000 from fiscal year 2014-15.

After financial hardship for the past few years, the audit showed that Murfreesboro is getting back on track and has worked hard to keep improving.