The City of Plant City recently completed its first comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR) and, according to auditor Wade Sansbury, of Mauldin and Jenkins, things are looking good for the city.
The report, which is not required by Florida law, is the city’s most complete and comprehensive to date. It includes information on financial trends, revenue capacity and operating information from the last 10 years, which have not been included in previous reports. The report, Sansbury said, came back “clean” and indicated that 2016 was a “very good year” for the city.
Sansbury acknowledged the city’s chief financial officer Diane Reichard, for her leadership.
“You have, through Diane’s leadership, decided to go above and beyond what is actually required,” Sansbury said. “I commend you for that, and I commend Diane and the finance department for that.”
Sansbury added that he “fully expects” Plant City and its finance department to win the prestigious Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting award from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA).
According to the GFOA website, the award was set up in 1945 “to encourage and assist state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles, to prepare comprehensive annual financial reports that evidence the spirit of transparency and full disclosure and then to recognize individual governments that succeed in achieving that goal.”
For 2017, Reichard plans to introduce new, quarterly reports to continue to monitor the city’s finances. She said she anticipates presenting the first report of 2017 to the City Commission during an April meeting.
Reichard came to Plant City from the City of Ocala in August 2015. In Ocala, she was the chief financial officer and assistant city manager. Before Ocala, she served as the finance director in Temple Terrace for seven years and had spent 19 years in the City of Leesburg, becoming budget manager in 1997 and finance director in 2002.
“Diane has come in the last two years and has built a brand new team and they haven’t disappointed us,” City Manager Mike Herr said. “They’ve done an excellent job, so we’re very proud of them. I appreciate their leadership and their capabilities, very much so.”
Contact Daniel Figueroa IV at dfigueroaIV@plantcityobserver.com