Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com

The city of Brighton sailed through the annual audit, presented at last Thursday’s meeting by accounting firm Plante & Moran, with flying colors.

The city was given an “unmodified” or clean opinion, meaning everything could be relied on as accurate, and accepted accounting procedures were followed to the letter.

Officials of the auditing firm told council that in the 2022-2023 fiscal year — which ended June 30th — city coffers realized a $750,000 increase in revenue over the previous year. The city was also able to increase its fund balance by $820,000 to a total of $4.3 million.

Likewise, the unassigned, or undesignated, fund balance at the end of the 22-23 fiscal year totaled about $2 million, or a healthy 23% — up 6% from the previous year. The 23% figure is comfortably above the city’s stated goal of having a fund balance of at least 15% at the end of the year.

Mayor Kris Tobbe asked Plante and Moran officials how Brighton ranked with the hundreds of other Michigan communities the firm serves, and the response was high praise. “In any given year, half of (the) clients would have control deficiencies,” Tobbe was told, again quoting, “so (all in all), you'd rank right at the top.”

Council was also told the city spent a hefty $12.2 million in 22-23 for infrastructure — mostly street projects and utility system improvements. Plante and Moran officials also said the city has also achieved a steady increase in the taxable value of property since 2014.