The city of Brighton got another glowing audit report at Thursday’s City Council meeting.

Representatives from Plante Moran, the city’s auditors, gave the city an “unmodified” report — the 30th straight year the city has received an unmodified opinion from its auditors, something of which auditor Martin Olejnik told council the city “should be very proud.”

An unmodified audit means the city’s finances during the past year were recorded in accordance with accepted accounting standards and practices and there were no red flags. It also marks the 8th straight year that Brighton has received a Certificate of Achievement for financial reporting. Olejnik tells WHMI the city “does a very good job of checks and balances and internal controls, based on (Plante Moran’s) testing.”

Olejnik said that property values in Brighton increased 2% in last year, adding that due to the Headlee Tax Limitation Amendment it would take many years for the city even to get to where it was back in 2008, when the recession hit. Headlee requires that tax increases be limited to 5% or the rate of inflation — whichever is lower.

The cost of doing business is taking its toll, and that is shown by the numbers. The city recorded a 15.4% fund balance in fiscal 2017, a drop from the 18.3% recorded in 2016. In the past year, the taxable value of homes and businesses in Brighton totaled $5.7 million, up slightly from the $5.5 million realized in the preceding year. (TT)