The city of Streator received a positive report Thursday from its auditor, Birkey & Noble of Princeton.

The report was for the fiscal year ending April 30. The city met in a Committee of the Whole workshop to discuss the audit, at the request of Councilman Bruce Hart.

The city's net assets are $81,409,169. This represents a decrease of $743,973 from the last fiscal year. Joe Birkey, the auditor, attributed this to a decrease in sales tax revenue. Birkey said many municipalities are experiencing similar situations as people are not purchasing big-ticket items during the recession. Total assets are $94,133,871 and total liabilities are $12,724,702.

"(The city) is not going broke in any particular fund," Birkey told the council. "It is in a fairly good position financially."

"I'm pleased," City Manager Paul Nicholson told The Times. "It's an annual requirement for all municipalities. Based on the audit process, the city is in a sound financial position and arguably the council seems to be pleased too, as there was little discussion."

The city saw a $970,000 decrease in general obligation bond debts in the year's audit. Total bonded debt was $8,155,000, down from $9,125,000 in 2008.

There was a net decrease of $1,168,516 in the city's cash and investments. Birkey attributed this primarily to the pension trust funds. In 2009 the funds were at $9,968,699, down from $11,125,935 in 2008.

In property taxes, the city saw an increase of $1,677,803 in assessed valuations in the audit over the previous year. The city also saw a net increase of .0322 in property tax rates.

In other discussion, the council briefly voiced concerns about the current revision of the intergovernmental agreement between the city and Reading Township for the state-mandated sanitary sewer project.

Nicholson, City Engineer Jeremy Palm and City Attorney Steve Myers will meet Friday to discuss the current revision.

The council's next regularly-scheduled meeting is at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18.

"I would be surprised if we were able to have changes ready for the regular meeting," Nicholson said. "We acknowledged to the township that we may be looking at a special meeting to act on that. We need to reconfirm their deadlines with the EPA."