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Hayesville gets clean bill of financial health An annual audit of the Town of Hayesville's finances was only good news to the Town Council Monday night. The Murphy accounting firm that performed the audit found the town's books in more-than-sound shape. "We did not encounter any problems of any kind while doing the audit," said Terry McDonald of Turner, Ellis, Hatchett & Roberts. In checking the accounts, the firm, McDonald said, found that the town's net assets exceeded liabilities by $412,730, and over $100,000 of the surplus was available for "unrestricted use." Among the town's governmental funds accounts, some $240,000 was available for unreserved spending, McDonald reported. In addition, she said, the town hall note had been paid off, freeing the town to do some $22,000 worth of paving and leaving Hayesville with the water bond as its only debt. Clay County pays the town for its part of that bond. In a related note, the council also got a mid-fiscal-year update from Mayor Harrell Moore on the town's tax collections. Mayor Moore said 43.9 percent of the town's property taxes have been collected so far, while sales tax reciepts are running about 62 percent of what was budgeted, putting both categories on track. Hayesville's collected 81 percent of the motor vehicle taxes it had figured on, but rezoning permits are running way ahead of what town officials had estimated - 400 percent above pedic- tions. On the spending side, only the General Maintenance account showed more-thanaverage traffic. The town spent 125 percent of what was set aside for maintenance, prompting the council to move $500 from the Street Repair budget into the General Maintenance fund. After the financial discussions were concluded, the council turned its attention to a possible future ordinance. Town Zoning Administrator George Schaaf was given the task of looking into what other towns have done to regulate yard sales. "We've had complaints that garage sales have been going on for an extended period of time - seven days a week in some locations," said Mayor Moore. And that, said Schaaf, is the main concern faced by the council. "When a garage sale is over, it should shut down, not go on for weeks and months," Schaaf said. Some of the provisions that are used in other towns and might be included in a possible ordinance here: + Hours of Operation (Sunrise to sunset recommended) + Duration of Sale (Maximum four days in any 30-day period; maximum 10 days per year recommended) + Compliance (Similar to existing Nuisance Ordinance, but with a shorter compliance period recommended) + No permit required. Some board members asked Schaaf to add "adequate parking" to the list of provisions, although other members admitted that might be hard to determine and enforce. Schaaf is expected to come back to the council with the proposed ordinance at their next meeting.
In other business, Schaaf announced that the town Board of Adjustment would hear a proposal Thursday night to make the Pioneer Village site a semi-public park. That meeting is scheduled for the Town Hall at 6 p.m.
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