According to preliminary audit figures, Polk County could have ended last fiscal year $700,000 in the black.

Polk County Manager Ryan Whitson told county commissioners last week that the annual audit process is looking positive. He said initial figures show the county ended fiscal year 2009-2010 with revenues exceeding expenditures by $700,000.

Whitson said the county was about five percent under its budget on expenses last year and about 2.5 percent over on revenues.

Polk County Tax Collector Melissa Bowlin also gave commissioners a report last week on settlement of taxes for fiscal year 2009-10. Bowlin reported that the county billed $12,920,757 in taxes last year and has collected $12,491,492. This represents a&bsp; collection rate of 96.67 percent, with an uncollected tax rate of only 3.33 percent.

Whitson said the total of tax revenues collected exceeds the amount of tax revenues the county budgeted for last year. Last year’s county budget for property taxes, including the solid waste fee, was for approximately $12,200,000. The total of billed taxes was approximately $700,000 over the budgeted amount of revenue, and the county is ahead almost $300,000 so far on collections for last years taxes.

Local governments normally receive the final audit report from certified auditors sometime in October.