1 of 2
Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Mountain Brook City Manager Steve Boone
2 of 2
Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Jason Harpe
Mountain Brook City Manager Steve Boone could have seamlessly switched back to his old role as chief financial officer and talked at length about the audit of the city’s finances.
“I could do it,” Boone said, acknowledging that the report of the audit "does speak for itself.”
The council heard during its April 13 meeting from Jason Harpe of Riggs, Carr & Ingram. The accountant said the city’s finances are ship shape.
“We're going to issue what we call an unmodified opinion, which is the opinion you want,” Harpe said. “We don't want to be modifying our opinion.”
Harpe said that municipal audits are unlike corporate financial statements since there are two balance sheets and two income statements. He said the primary focus is on fund financials: the general fund or debt service fund.
“One important thing that we go through is, how many days of operations do you have in your fund balance, in your equity?” Harpe said. “The city now has about 180 days of operations in your equity, and that's a good thing. You don't really want to dip below 90 days, so you're about double. That’s very healthy.
“If you closed everything, it takes about $120,000 a day to run your general fund,” the accountant said. “That's saying you could go literally around 180 days without bringing anything else in and support all the city services in your general fund. You don't want to dip below that.”
The audit report included an assessment of Mountain Brook’s finances. Assets and deferred outflows of resources of the city exceeded its liabilities and deferred inflows of resources as of September 30, 2025, by $128.9 million, the report read. Of this amount, $109 million represents the net book value of the city’s capital assets including infrastructure and $1.6 million is restricted ($359,000 for the Emergency Communication District, $947,000 for road improvements from the State Shared Gasoline Tax Other Governmental Funds and $332,000 from the General Fund Opioid Litigation Settlement).
The remaining $18 million is available for use by the city to fund future municipal services and to meet its obligations to employees and creditors. The Total Net Position increased by $12 million in 2025, which includes the net cost of providing core city services of $38.6 million, plus $50.8 million in general revenues.
As of September 30, 2025, the city reported $54.3 million in fund balances, an increase of $3.2 million from 2024. Of the $54.3 million fund balances, $21.9 million (40%) is reported in the general fund, with $26.1 million (48%) in the capital projects fund and $6.2 million (12%) in the other governmental funds.
During the meeting, the council:
- Authorized the sale or disposal of certain surplus property.
- Awarded the bid for the Mountain Brook Fire Department refurb of the reserve quint ladder truck.
- Approved the city’s agreement with Sain Associates for on-call and demand contract engineering services.
- Authorized signatories for the city’s Truist Bank deposit and investment accounts.
- Approved the annexation of 4252 Old Leeds Road.
- Authorized the mayor to execute an agreement in connection with opioid litigation.
The next meeting of the Mountain Brook City Council will be 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28. The meeting is delayed a day because of the Mountain Brook Schools student showcase.
