For Blacksburg town officials, it was another year of congratulating each other on a job well done following a fiscal year in which the municipality saw increases in both its governmental and business sectors.

“Our folks have been doing a good job with this process of keeping the town’s finances in good standing,” said Blacksburg Mayor David Hogue.

Hogue’s comments came following a presentation by Union-based accountant Terry Fant in which he gave the governing body the results of an audit detailing the municipality’s financial activity during the previous fiscal year which ended March 31.

During the previous fiscal year, the town’s general fund increased by nearly $61,500, keyed by the first year of a local options sales tax and the reimbursement of grants related to the asbestos abatement and other procedures necessary toward the demolition of the old Academy Street School.

The local option sales tax produced an additional $36,660 for the municipality, offsetting sizable decreases in revenue to areas like property taxes and police fines and forfeitures, which dropped 27 percent compared to the most recent fiscal year.

Funds pumped into the demolition and asbestos abatement of the old Academy Street School were reimbursed by the state through grants received by the town, helping provide an $84,731 cushion in intergovernmental revenues.

“Expenditures seem to have gone out of the roof due to the demolition and asbestos abatement at the Academy Street School, changes to health and general insurance and the town hospitality tax,” Fant said. “Without the grants, it is likely numbers would be comparable with the prior year.”

In regard to businesstype activities, the municipality’s net assets increased by nearly $1.7 million, keyed by several elements including an increase in water and sewer rates and the effectiveness of a leak detection program, cutting water loss for the town.

Blacksburg also received $421,978 in grant revenues during the 2010 fiscal year, a rise of $368,068 from the previous term.

The primary catalyst in the increase according to the Union-based accountant was the municipality’s sale of the Blacksburg Gas Company to York County Natural Gas Company, which added $1.4 million to the books. However, Fant warned town officials the sale would make “income harder to come by this year” for Blacksburg, concerned about the transition of overhead from the gas company to the water and sewer department.

“It is a better year when you look at the bottom line, but I’m concerned with the gas sale of how the shift of finances, particularly employees, transfers over,” Fant said.

Adding to the concern is the drop in water purchases, which brought in $284,318 last year, compared to $319,770 during the 2009 fiscal year. Knowing water is not a big money-maker, Hogue said he and other town officials must keep an eagle’s eye on the municipality’s finances.

“It is all about assets and liabilities; it looks like it will take a little while until we are able to spend within our means,” Hogue said. “Gas income will no longer come in and water is not a big moneymaker, so it looks like we’ll have to keep our nose to the grindstone for another year.”