Asbury Park received high marks from municipal auditor David Kaplan for its 2019 audit. Kaplan said the city’s tax collection rate in 2019 was 99.94 percent.
“That’s an amazing number,” Kaplan said.
He said the beach utility fund had a $1.5 million increase bringing the total collected that year to $4.4 million.
The Transportation Utility, formerly called the Parking Utility, collected $8.8 million in 2019, a $2.6 million increase.
Kaplan said the audit was presented with very few adjustments to the numbers.
“That takes team work and leadership,” Kaplan said.
Discussing the internal controls portion of the audit, Kaplan said there were no deficiencies or compliance issues.
City officials said they are budgeting $400,000 of the Beach Utility for salaries, supplies and training, and the rest will be placed in surplus for now. A new lifeguard station and office are being planned but are on hold now due to the pandemic. The surplus is used for emergencies and capitol improvements.
Transportation Utility funds will be used for salaries, signage, striping, meter maintenance and construction of a parking garage when the pandemic is over
