Rehoboth Supervisor Charles R. Slayton is the Lunenburg County Board of Supervisors chairman for 2017, with Beaver Creek Supervisor Dr. Frank W. Bacon as vice chairman. Their fellow supervisors unanimously voted to elect Slayton — the board’s immediate past vice chairman — and Bacon to their new positions during a combined reorganization and regular meeting Thursday.

County Administrator Tracy Gee said former chairman and Brown’s Store District Supervisor David E. Wingold Sr. recently hurt his back and could not attend the meeting.

The board also unanimously approved its meeting and holiday schedules for the 2017 calendar year. The board will meet on the second Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. in the Lunenburg County Courthouse with one exception. It’s April 13 meeting will be 10 a.m. at a school to be designated at a later time. Also, it will hold an extra meeting on March 30 jointly with the Lunenburg County School Board.

Also during Thursday’s meeting, Paul Lee, of Robinson, Farmer & Cox, presented supervisors with its Fiscal Year 2016 audit of county finances. The fiscal year ended June 30, 2016.

“The audit went very smoothly,” Lee said. “You got … (a) non-modified opinion on your financial statements themselves — that’s the highest opinion there that you can get.”

Lee reported there were no federal compliance issues to report, nor any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies regarding internal controls.

He said the county finished up the fiscal year with about a $5.9 million undefined general fund balance, up almost $200,000 from Fiscal Year 2015. He said the debt service fund went down by about the same amount.

“So, you really stayed static from that standpoint on an overall financial position basis,” Lee said, “but having a $5.9 million ending fund balance puts you in a pretty good place.”

Lee said that, in comparison to 12 other municipalities he audits, Lunenburg ranked fourth in terms of the ending fund balance being 23 percent of total revenue. He said the county was also doing well in terms of property tax collections.

“If that … ever dropped, you would begin to feel it in that fund balance in what was carried over,” Lee said.

He also said the county’s outstanding debt, at $12.6 million, placed it seventh in comparison to the other localities he audits.

Robinson, Farmer & Cox did issue a management letter, which Lee said included a request to make sure all credit card receipts are included in an accounting of Social Services expenditures. He also noted the local appropriation for public schools was about $8,000 more than budgeted.

“In past years, it’s always been under,” Lee said. “This is the first year I can think of where it was over.”

Supervisors voted unanimously to accept the audit report.

In other business, Virginia

Department of Transportation (VDOT) South Hill Resident Administrator Billy Smith reported that Route 621, which is in Lunenburg and Mecklenburg counties, should be reopened by Jan. 12. Smith also reported crews were ready for last weekend’s snowfall by pre-treating roads. He also said the county ended up with $90,000 left over in a safety/improvement fund and asked supervisors to come up with ideas by March for implementation before July 1.

Plymouth Supervisor T. Wayne Hoover asked about installing signage near the Kenbridge Rescue Squad on East 5th Street in Kenbridge to alert drivers there is an emergency vehicle egress there. Slayton suggested additional bus stop signage in certain neighborhoods.