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November 24, 2009

Groves gets ‘clean audit’



By Darragh Doiron

The News staff writer

GROVES — Hurricane evacuations ate up expenses in Groves, but the city got a “clean audit,” D.E. Sosa, Groves City Manger, said.

Council accepted the fiscal year audit of 2007-2008 that came with recommendations of combining grant applications through the financial director. Council accepted the audit results at Monday’s meeting.

“We had problems with hurricanes that put a lot of additional work on auditors. We’re getting a lot of money back from FEMA,” Sosa said.

The overall general government budget was $5,724,431, and evacuation costs for hurricanes Gustav and Ike, and Ike cleanup, added about $1.5 million to the budget, he said.

“That really put a number on our budget. The good news is that FEMA will reimburse most of that,” Sosa said.

About 70 percent of the hurricane expenses went to salaries for police, fire and public works employees, he said.

In other business, council authorized Ralph May Jr. to use up to 3,000 square feet of Lindenmayer Park prior to purchase, for expansion of his auto collision business.

Sosa said this sort of expansion is good for economic development.

“He’s doing a fantastic job,” Sosa said.

ddoiron@panews.com

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