When I talk about the strength of Pickens, I’m not just talking about our spirit — I’m talking about our finances, too. A strong city needs both. And I’m proud to say that in 2025, the city of Pickens is in better financial shape than it’s been in many years.

If you’ve been following along with city council meetings or reading the budget summaries, you’ve seen the change for yourself. If you’ve been listening to some on social media more concerned with creating drama than knowing or telling the truth, you might think the city is on its last legs. They are talking about the past and ignoring the progress of the last two years.

Back in 2023, our general fund budget was overspent by around $2 million dollars. Things then were out of control. That was a different time and a different administration and city council. The city was keeping things running, but our reserves were thin — only about 9 percent of annual spending was sitting in the bank as a cushion. That meant any unexpected cost, big repair or storm damage could throw us off balance.

Our auditors told us the truth: we needed stronger reserves and better tracking of our budget adjustments. We took that advice seriously. Since then, we’ve made the kind of progress any small town would be proud of.

By 2024, the city’s general fund budget grew to $5.29 million, and by this fiscal year, 2025-26, we’re working with just more than $6.1 million. That’s not because we’re spending wildly — it’s because our community is vibrant, revenues are stronger and we’re managing our resources more carefully.

At the same time, we’ve built up a healthy savings account for the city — a total of about $2.67 million in reserves and fund balance, according to the April 22, 2024, council minutes. That includes a 24 percent reserve for the general fund and 16 percent for the utility fund, meeting or exceeding the levels required by city ordinance.

In plain English, this means your city government can handle surprises without raising taxes or cutting services. It means if a major water line breaks or a storm hits, we’ve got the money set aside to fix it. It means we can plan projects — not panic about them.

It also means we’re being responsible with debt. The city has paid off significant amount of debt over the last two budgets and hasn’t borrowed a dime. We know we can comfortably pay back the existing debt that was borrowed in 2021 to pay for infrastructure improvements. All of that is built into a very good plan.

Every one of these decisions — from adopting the budget to setting reserve policies — happens in public meetings. If you check the minutes from April 8 and April 22, 2024, you’ll see where we reviewed our accounts, talked through priorities and recorded our financial position for everyone to see.

That’s the way small-town government should work: open, honest and focused on the people who live here.

We’ve come a long way in just two years. In 2023, our finances were tight. In 2025, we’re steady. We’ve moved from catching up to planning ahead. When the prior administration fired our auditing firm and failed to replace them, the city fell several years behind in audits. By the end of this budget year — June 30, 2026 — we will be caught up and fully up to date on all audits. We’d love to have them done sooner, but the process of an audit is long and involved and our auditing firm only has certain windows available to do the work.

There’s still work to do — there always is. We’ve got roads to pave, pipes to replace and neighborhoods to serve. But today, we’re making those plans from a place of strength.

I want every resident to know this: your city council and your city staff are watching every dollar. We’re investing where it matters, saving where we should and building a financial foundation that will keep Pickens strong for years to come.

We’re not a big city, but we do big things with what we have. Pickens is growing and thriving the right way — steady, responsible and proud.

Isaiah A. Scipio is the mayor of Pickens. He can be reached at iscipio@pickenscity.com.