Arapahoe County finance leaders ask commissioners to fund staff and tools to handle growth, grant compliance

Todd Weaver, finance, told the Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners at a study session that the county’s finance operations have not kept pace with county growth and asked commissioners to make several staffing and modest recurring funding commitments as part of consideration of additional revenue from Proposition 1A.

The recommendations are intended to ensure continued compliance with grant requirements, provide coverage for accounts payable and payroll, reduce risk of audit findings, and free finance staff to provide more department support ahead of the 2026 budget-development process. Weaver said the final decisions on how to allocate the 1A revenue will be made through the 2026 budget-development process.

Weaver summarized current capacity constraints and growth metrics: finance had about 30 full-time equivalents in 2015 and 32 in recent years, while county staffing and the county budget have grown substantially. Accounts payable activity rose from roughly 26,000 payments in 2020 to about 30,000 most recently. Payroll responsibility increased alongside county head count, which Weaver said grew from about 2,000 positions in 2015 to about 2,863 in 2025. He said solicitations processed by purchasing rose from about 44 per year pre-2022 to an average of 59 over the last three years and that the division is on pace to exceed 70 this year.

Weaver described two “have to” items the department views as critical if 1A funds are used for finance: converting a grant accountant position—currently funded with one-time ARPA/ERA-related dollars—to an ongoing funded position, which he estimated would cost about $135,000 in ongoing annual funding; and adding a modest audit escalator reserve of about $15,000 every other year to accommodate audit contract increases. Weaver warned that losing the grant accountant would require redistributing grant compliance work across remaining staff and would increase the risk of grant noncompliance and potential audit findings.

Weaver also presented several “should” items intended to increase capacity: a budget analyst to support supplementals, capital projects and department training (estimated $116,000 ongoing); an additional purchasing position to handle a rising volume of solicitations and vendor monitoring (about $98,000 ongoing); and an additional accounts-payable/payroll position to provide coverage and enable more detailed p‑card audits and vendor reviews (about $91,000 ongoing). He additionally requested a $40,000 ongoing budget increase to cover software, GASB 87/96 implementation tools and occasional outside SAP technical assistance.

Weaver noted other operational needs that might require future spending, such as making the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and budget document accessible, and the multi-year work required to configure and implement the SAP grant-management module that the county has already purchased. He said some tasks—process modernization, deeper department support and system implementations—have been deferred because day-to-day mandatory activities and annual reporting consume staff time.

On staffing and space, Weaver said finance has been fully staffed for about six months but that the department remains small in several functional areas (for example, two AP and two payroll positions and small purchasing and budget teams), which limits coverage during leaves and reduces capacity for proactive projects. He praised staff performance—“we have a great team who does a great job,” Weaver said—but characterized the overall request as capacity-building to avoid spreading staff too thin.

Commissioners asked few questions immediately; the session concluded with a separate motion to convene an executive session on several legal and negotiation matters. Weaver and Heather (finance) stressed that any allocations from 1A will be incorporated into the formal 2026 budget-development process and that departments will submit budget memos documenting requests and answers to commissioner questions.

The board did not take final funding actions at the study session; decisions about converting positions or adding recurring funds will be made through the 2026 budget process and any supplemental requests or changes will be brought back to the board as required.