CENTREVILLE &045;&045; Reversing the financial losses and accounting deficiencies noted by its auditors in past years, the Town of Centreville posted an overall profit of $133,837 during the 2003 fiscal year.

Centreville aldermen received the encouraging news from the Natchez-based accounting firm of Silas M. Simmons & Co. LLC at their regular meeting Tuesday night.

The report was a vast improvement from the town’s 2002 fiscal year audit, which revealed an overall loss of $29,351.

Auditors had also found six violations of government auditing standards in their review of Centreville’s 2002 financial statements. &uot;I’m happy to say that all those findings except one were resolved satisfactorily,&uot; Simmons representative Wes Gore said.

The remaining deficiency involved the segregation of internal controls&045;&045;a problem Gore said is common to small towns where clerks are forced to perform multiple accounting duties. &uot;The only thing you could do about that is hire more people, and that’s not feasible,&uot; Gore said.

The 2003 audit was given as an unqualified report for the first time in several years, since the town has now initiated a fixed assets inventory, Gore said.

&uot;The mayor and (City Clerk) Michelle Singleton worked hard on that last year, and we no longer have to qualify our opinion with that exception,&uot; Gore said.

Centreville Mayor David Owens said the retirement of bond issues combined with a water rate hike and reduced overtime for city employees all contributed to the town’s financial improvement.

In other action, the board approved travel for Singleton and Utility Superintendent John White to attend training seminars in Jackson.

The board also agreed to accept a used fire truck as a donation from the Town of Gloster.