Grace (finance staff) told legislators the finance department employs nine full‑time equivalent staff and oversees payroll, accounts payable, fixed assets, capital accounting and grant management for the county.

She said the department processes about 5,300 checks and 1,800 electronic vendor payments annually, maintains fixed‑asset records and performs year‑end reporting and audits required by the New York State Office of the State Comptroller. “We issue about, process about 5,300 checks a year, and about 1,800 ACIs,” Grace said.

The finance department’s 2026 request shows a roughly 4% increase in total expenditures, driven mainly by higher health‑insurance costs and contractual step increases. Grace told the legislature the department budgets about $3.2 million in revenue lines that the office manages on behalf of the county, and that projected revenues are rising about $219,000 over last year — largely from interest earnings and a modest increase in off‑track betting receipts.

She described several operational items that could affect future budgets and service delivery: a planned closeout of several capital projects (resolutions expected soon), continued work on fixed‑asset software conversion, and the annual open‑enrollment and retiree insurance billing workload. Grace said the department processes payroll worksheets for 23 of the county’s 33 departments and that ADP performs the actual payroll processing under contract.

On debt and long‑range planning, Grace drew attention to two large outstanding bond payments that mature in 2028 and 2029; she suggested those maturing liabilities could free capacity for future capital financing. She also listed 2026 department goals including: improved Munis utilization, expanding positive‑pay fraud protection on county bank accounts, participation in a time‑and‑attendance modernization project, enhanced internal controls and creation of a finance page on the county portal for training material.

Questions from legislators touched on whether payroll is outsourced (ADP handles payroll processing; staff prepare and upload files) and on a proposed check‑signer purchase. Grace said some minor equipment and contract costs are increasing but that other hardware lines have been reduced due to prior investments in infrastructure.

Grace framed the presentation as an overview to help the legislature evaluate department requests during the 2026 budget review.