Finance director reports clean state audit, stable credit ratings and system modernization needs

Finance Director Karen Alder told the Budget and Finance Committee the Finance Department received a clean state audit, preserved its credit ratings and is pursuing system upgrades while noting staffing and technology challenges.

Alder said the finance team uses short‑term and multi‑year investments and has taken advantage of higher interest rates to boost investment income; she said revenue collections were ahead of projections in the first two quarters. The city’s audit, released by the state auditor on Monday, was clean with no material findings, Alder said. The city also kept credit ratings with Moody’s and S&P at AA and AA‑2 respectively, she added.

Alder identified technology modernization as the department’s top challenge: the city is upgrading its financial system but many workflows still require manual input; Alder recommended expanding electronic workflows to increase efficiency and data security. She also cited recruiting and retaining accountants with government experience and a training gap for mid‑level staff as ongoing human‑resource challenges.

Alder described operational performance: accounts payable processing and timely refunds generally met targets after a normal July system shutdown and the treasury investment benchmarking beat targets for the year; refund timeliness was reported at 95% and nearly 100% across the two reporting quarters. The department completed a comprehensive review of fees, licenses and fines to align charges with cost of providing services, and highlighted employee wellness awards including the ‘‘healthiest employer’’ recognition.

Ending: Alder’s presentation was filed; no additional actions were taken during the meeting. Alder noted Steve Webb as incoming finance director.