Committee approves recommendation to advance treasury cash-management contract increase and schedules follow-ups on oversight funding, ARPA interest and foreclo

The Detroit City Council Budget, Finance and Audit Standing Committee on a virtual meeting on March 27 forwarded an amendment to the Treasury Cash Management Systems contract for formal approval and scheduled follow-up reviews for several pending fiscal items, including a resolution on a proportional funding formula for oversight agencies and a proposed one-year moratorium on owner-occupied foreclosures.

The committee sent to formal recommendation Amendment 2 for contract number 6003575-82, a renewal option with a contract increase of $113,210 that brings the total contract amount to $305,096 and extends the contract through May 31, 2027. Nikhil Patel, deputy CFO treasurer, said the software supports the city’s cash-position reporting and projections and that the increase largely reflects inflation and ongoing hosting and maintenance costs. “What the software is actually for is our cash management software,” Patel said. He described two pieces of software in use — “G Treasury” and “Sysimpro” — and said the contract includes flexibility to drop the GE Treasury piece once the city's Oracle enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation can supply the same forecasting function.

Noor Barr, deputy treasurer, described the cost break down into three categories — maintenance and support, annual hosting, and the cash-management forecasting module — and said the cash-management piece is the largest expense and expected to drop when Oracle’s forecasting capability is available. “In the past, we do own all the modules in Oracle, including the cash management. The issue has been for us that you can only forecast two weeks into the future, which is not really suitable,” Barr said. She said the Treasury system can forecast up to five years.

Other items the committee handled by unanimous consent or scheduled for return included: a resolution to establish a proportional funding formula for oversight agencies (bring back in one week for review and a fiscal impact study), a memorandum from the council president pro tem on earning interest on American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds (bring back in two weeks), a memorandum requesting an appropriation for community violence intervention initiatives (received and placed on file), a resolution requesting the Wayne County Treasurer extend a one-year moratorium on owner-occupied foreclosures (bring back in one week), and a request for a status update on an International Association of Assessing Officers study (bring back in two weeks).

The committee heard from Donnie Johnson, deputy budget director, who reported the initial draft of a fiscal impact statement for the oversight-funding resolution is complete and under review by OCFO leadership; the committee agreed to a one-week return so members could review the draft. Council member Gabriela Santiago Romero asked for the fiscal impact statement to be distributed to committee members when available.

Votes at a glance

- Contract Amendment — Contract No. 6003575-82, Amendment 2 (Treasury Cash Management Systems, vendor: emphasis computer solutions). Motion: send to formal recommendation to approve. Contract increase: $113,210; new total: $305,096; contract end date: 05/31/2027. Outcome: forwarded to formal recommendation (no objections).

- Resolution — Establish proportional funding formula for oversight agencies (Line item 5.1). Motion: bring back in one week for fiscal impact review. Outcome: scheduled for one-week bring back.

- Memorandum — Earn interest on ARPA funds (Line item 5.2). Motion: bring back in two weeks. Outcome: scheduled for two-week bring back.

- Memorandum — Request for additional appropriation for community violence intervention initiatives (Line item 5.3). Motion: receive and place on file. Outcome: received and placed on file.

- Resolution — Request Wayne County Treasurer extend a one-year moratorium on owner-occupied foreclosures (Line item 6.2). Motion: bring back in one week. Outcome: scheduled for one-week bring back.

- Memorandum — Status update on International Association of Assessing Officers study (Line item 6.3). Motion: bring back in two weeks. Outcome: scheduled for two-week bring back.

Chair and committee members agreed to the scheduling motions by unanimous consent during the meeting; no roll-call vote tallies were recorded in the transcript.

Background and next steps

Committee members asked to receive the OCFO fiscal impact draft and other materials ahead of the next meetings. Several items were returned for further review rather than advanced to a final vote, giving staff time to provide fiscal analyses and clarifying language for the committee’s consideration at follow-up meetings.