June 27--MORGANTON -- Foothills Regional Airport has made significant financial improvements in the past year, according to airport officials.
Foothills Regional Airport Authority met Wednesday and examined the financial and fixed-base operator reports.
"We presented the financial report for the month of May," Authority accountant Norm Sherwood said. "As far as the bottom line, we are ahead of budget."
The financial report of May showed cash balances beginning May 21 this of $103,842.25. The ending balance on June 20 was $75,543.69.
"We are essentially a zero-based budget; we spent what we budgeted," Sherwood said.
Staying in line with the budget is a welcome change for the authority compared to this time last year.
"Last May, we had asked four entities for money, we had operated on money the local government had given us," Sherwood said.
Sherwood said the authority's financial worries began in March of 2012. Foothills Regional Airport was raided by the FBI on June 5, 2012.
"Last year, we had fraud going on, and this year we don't," he said.
The 2010-2011 fiscal year for Foothills Regional Airport was being audited by Roger Bowman of Bowman, Pegg and Starr in Hickory.
The audit was never completed.
"Like any public agency, the airport must submit an annual audit to the state," said Louis Vinay, airport attorney. "The fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011, Bowman was contracted to do it. That audit should have been due in late 2011."
Following the FBI raid on Foothills Regional Airport, files were seized and Bowman was unable to complete the audit.
"We wanted him to do the audit, but with the raid and all the questions, he refused," Vinay said. "He was not dismissed because he did anything wrong."
Vinay said Bowman waived any fees from work he had done and stopped working on the audit.
Lowdermilk, Church and Co. in Morganton took over the auditing.
"(The firm) filed the 2011 audit and they have the 2012 audit ready," Vinay said. "We have approved Lowdermilk to do the audit for 2013."
The fixed-base operator report was delivered by Airport Manager Brent Brinkley.
Brinkly said sales Jet-A fuel decreased 3 percent from 2012 and the sales of AV fuel saw a 5-percent decrease.
Danny Gilbert, the finance officer for Foothills Regional Airport Authority, summed up the change in leadership and financial activity.
"Everything now is transparent," he said.
Copyright 2013 - The News Herald, Morganton, N.C.
