Finance director says Fargo on track for balanced budget; public safety sales tax will change statements

Susan Thompson, Director of Finance, told the Fargo City Commission that year-to-date general fund revenues through March are slightly below budget largely because grant timing is difficult to predict, but she expects a balanced budget at year end.

“At this point I don't see anything that is concerning so I'm anticipating that we'll have a balanced budget at the end of the year,” Thompson said during the commission’s regular meeting.

Thompson said the newly approved public safety sales tax, effective April 1, will change how the city’s financial statements appear but should “be a wash” because the additional revenue is expected to cover the public-safety expenses it is intended to fund. She told commissioners staff will present a unified implementation plan addressing pay scales, personnel, facilities, equipment and technology on Wednesday, May 14.

“Once we implement the public safety sales tax…this is gonna change quite a bit,” Thompson said. “It shouldn't really affect the bottom line in that it will bring enough public safety sales tax revenue to cover the expenses.”

Michael (City staff) added that the administration has emphasized sustainability and annual review of the pay scale, saying the plan must be durable over a 10-year horizon: “what we approve this year is really just the start…we're going to be checking in on this every year.”

Thompson also briefed the commission on credit-card processing. The city receives about $3,000,000 in card payments annually and pays roughly $90,000 in processing fees. As the city moves to the Tyler payments platform, Thompson proposed configuring payments so customers could be charged the card-processing fee rather than the city absorbing it; checks and cash would remain accepted to avoid customer fees.

“We're gonna move to Tyler payments which allows a lot of online payments and the payment processing can be configured to add the credit card fees at the bottom of the purchase,” Thompson said. She noted departments that use specialized or mobile systems (solid waste, transit and some concessions/ticket systems) will not immediately be on Tyler and thus may not be included in the fee routing.

Thompson outlined the budget calendar and asked commissioners to expect department budget meetings in early May; the public-safety sales-tax implementation, compensation plan and related items are scheduled for a May 14 meeting in this room.

Next steps: staff will refine projections that split the April 1 sales-tax change for an apples-to-apples comparison and will present a condensed, department-ready spreadsheet at upcoming budget briefings.