The Town of Thorsby will be working from a budget for the rest of this year after the Town Council passed its budget at Monday night’s council meeting.

Mayor Dearl Hilyer said town auditor Janice Hull prepared the budget, and it reflected what the town spent last year.

The council, however, is proposing making some minor changes to that budget.

For that reason, the council will have a work session on Feb. 9 to discuss what changes may be needed for the budget.

Hilyer said there was no budget in place for fiscal year 2008-09 when he took office in November, and town officials were thinking the town would have to borrow money to pay the bills at the end of 2008.

“No one really knew just how much money we were going to have this year. So, I decided to investigate it to see just how much money we really had,” Hilyer said.

During that process, the new mayor also asked department heads to watch their spending closely just until a budget was prepared.

Fortunately, the town did not have to borrow any money at the end of last year, and the town is in much better shape now because it has received its check from Alabama Power.

Now, Hilyer wants to install greater accountability in the town while giving more input to department heads in how the town’s money is spent.

“This first budget is kind of a rehearsal for next year when we will do a budget for the whole year,” Hilyer said. “We want to make sure we are accountable with the town’s money.”

— Brent Maze can be reached at brent.maze@clantonadvertiser.com.