Columbia finance officer and tax collector Ellen Bell reported to the board of aldermen that, through Oct. 31, property owners had paid 15 percent of the current tax levy.

One-third of the fiscal year had passed by that date.

Bell reported collecting $38,183 of the $251,645 levied by the aldermen in the current budget.

Town property taxes can be paid through Dec. 31 without penalty.

Jeff Best, the town’s auditor with Carr Riggs & Ingram, certified public accountants in Belhaven, reported that the town government’s assets exceeded liabilities and deferred inflows of resources by $12,212,864 on June 30, an increase of $860,481 over a year earlier. Three-fourths of the assets are in land, buildings, machinery and equipment.

Best drew attention to several particular aspects of the town’s financial operations that positively influenced the total unrestricted governmental net position:

­– Continued efforts to seek grants such as Community Development Block Grants, grants for repairs and renovations to the town water and wastewater system, sewer line rehabilitation, waterfront access and boating access grants, and state and federal funds to advance planning efforts and defray local costs of infrastructure projects.

­– Efforts to work with the NC Department of Transportation to resolve street flooding issues, develop multi-use paths and to secure discretionary funds for sidewalks as well as resurfacing, curb, and guttering of streets located within the Town.

­– Non-developed annexed areas will eventually add to the tax base, especially as they are developed for planned residential or repurposed commercial activity, resulting in new business properties that add to Columbia’s tax base.

Best also cautioned that the cost of general government, public safety, improvements to sidewalks, streets, boardwalk and other public infrastructure continue to increase each year, making any available grant funds even more important.