Bent County government’s financial condition is strengthening, auditor Ron Farmer told county officials last week.

    Farmer reported the net worth of the county operation grew by $726,000 to $4,976,000. That does not include the value of infrastructure such as  road and bridges. It does include operating and savings accounts and some capital items.

    If the county operation was a business it would have shown a profit of $505,000 for 2007.

    About $3674,000 of the “profit” was from a higher ending balance in the general fund.

    An increase of revenues “came into play, but expenses were controlled even more,” Farmer said.

    He noted that revenues from the wind farm in southeastern Bent County are starting to have a favorable impact on the budget.

    The county road and bridge operation showed a loss of $146,000, due to higher than usual spending on equipment. Equipment purchases, some caused by the unprecedented blizzard conditions in early 2007, totaled about $190,000. Excluding the capitalized purchases, road and bridge would have come in at $50,000 under budget,

    Farmer said he would like to see the carryover balance for road and bridge increase in the future. He noted the  ending balance for road and bridge was about $340,000. According to guidelines suggested by Colorado Counties, Inc., the operating fund should end with a surplus equal to from 25 to 33 percent of the total spending for the year. Farmer said the balance should be from $400,000 to $500,000 to meet the suggested reserve level.

    Farmer praised the Social Services department for having an ending balance of $288,000.  In the past, Farmer noted, the welfare fund was not strong to cover all of its costs, much less show a surplus.

    He suggested that Social Services strive for a carryover ending balance of  $400,000 in future years.

    “We’re working on it,” said Social Services Director William Schultz.

    Farmer said there was a $46,000 surplus in the prison fund, which he suggested “should not be there” and could be transferred to another department.

    The auditor noted that the county correctional fund, which mostly includes pass through money from the state, rose by $10 million in 2007. That was for housing prisoners in Oklahoma and the money simply passed through the county books, so the county was not able to retain any of it.

    Farmer said Bent County still owes $2,024,.000 on the county jail. That debt obligation will be paid off in 2013. When the jail debt is retired, about $400,000 a year will be freed up from the correctional fund.