By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
BUCHANAN, MI – Buchanan City Commissioners received good financial news at their meeting last week with the receipt of the audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. The meeting also featured honors for five Buchanan Police Department officers as well as kudos for the city’s Department of Public Works employees.
Brian Hake of the Kruggel Lawton accounting firm presented the audit findings for the 2024-25 fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025. The audit had been delayed a few months due to new federal funding reporting requirements that were hampered by last fall’s federal government shutdown.
Hake gave the city a clean, unmodified opinion and said that the city’s finances have been improving over the last few years. He praised the city’s ability to stay the course financially in a year that saw the start of the nearly $20 million downtown infrastructure project and all that went along with that.
He reported that the city currently has enough money in its general fund balance to operate for 9.9 months which is the highest level for that statistic in the last five years.
General fund revenue ended the year with $3.711 million, up from the final budget number of $3.633 million. Expenditures were $2.62 million, down from the final budget number of $2.936 million.
With transfers in and out, revenue exceeded expenditures by $294,406 and the fund balance increased to $2.17 million. The city had anticipated a small deficit of $89,653 and a fund balance at the end of the year of $1.786 million.
“It’s good to see that the city is healthy financially and headed in the right direction,” Mayor Mark Weedon said. “… It was an amazing audit and we have an absolutely amazing financial team doing amazing work.”
City Manager Tony McGhee said after the meeting that revenues were up and expenditures down for a variety of reasons. “It is encouraging to see year-end results with revenues coming in slightly higher than anticipated and costs slightly lower than expected, which again reflects the effort put into the budget by our finance team,” he said.
In police department commendations, officers Duncan Gast and Corey Reed received meritorious service medals, Angela Baggett a lifesaving award, and Katelyn Cooke and Dominick Klein letters of commendation. Police Chief Harvey Burnett also presented a letter of appreciation to the city’s DPW crew.
Gast was recognized for his efforts on Sept. 17 in locating a carjacking suspect. Reed was recognized for locating a stolen vehicle taken out of South Bend and arresting two suspects Dec. 30. Baggett was recognized for her efforts Jan. 2 helping a resident who was having trouble breathing.
Cooke was recognized for her professional actions on Oct. 1 in executing a probate order. Klein was recognized for his actions in answering a medical assist call on Jan. 1. The DPW was recognized for maintaining city streets during adverse weather conditions over the last several months.
“Our roads are in better shape than those in a lot of other communities,” McGhee noted in his comments.
In other action, the commission established the Victory Park Fund with the Berrien County Community Foundation to accept private donations including an initial $50,000 matching grant from the Schalon Foundation.
“Five years ago, Victory Park was one of the things we talked about doing and now it’s coming to fruition,” Commissioner Larry Money said. “This fund makes it more sustainable … This is really a big improvement.”
Commissioners also purchased a new wood chipper for the DPW, approved a proposal from Prien & Newhof to conduct a required water reliability study, approved the purchase of three in-car printers from LexisNexis for the police department and approved a resolution placing the McCoy Creek Trail Committee under the Buchanan Area Recreation Board.