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Committee presses administration on missing audits, reconciliations and finance software limitations
Summary
Councilors and finance reviewers raised outstanding 2023 audit requirements, bank‑reconciliation gaps, year‑end transfers and finance‑software limitations; committee requested monthly statements and a reconciled budget worksheet and discussed hiring or consulting options to address capacity and reporting.
Council members used the finance committee meeting to press the administration for overdue audit deliverables, clearer reconciliations for department budgets, and a plan to address the city’s finance‑system limitations.
Audit and reconciliation concerns: Chair Gail Larson said she was “disappointed that the 2023 audit is not completed and shared with counsel yet” and asked for the unaudited 2024 reports to be sent to the auditor and the State Auditor. Councilors asked that the finance department post fourth quarter 2024 statements and monthly unaudited statements on the city website as they become available.
Bank reconciliations and transfers: Committee financial reviewers described year‑end transfers made in December to avoid potential negative fund balances, and noted that bank reconciliations and certain budgeted transfers remained open items. Members asked finance staff to provide reconciled bank statements and a schedule showing where department budgets map to appropriation line items.
Pension, hospitalization and other variances: Frank Eich said some large variances in police and fire pension lines were explained by prior uses of ARPA or COVID‑related intergovernmental dollars; hospitalization costs were harder to predict because the city is self‑insured, making year‑to‑year claims volatile.
Finance system limitations and staffing: Multiple councilors and staff described the current accounting software as “antiquated and inefficient,” slow to run reports and producing oversized exports that require significant manipulation. Several members said the city should evaluate replacing the software or invest in consultant support and staff training. Committee members and the mayor discussed adding an assistant finance director as a permanent hire and using consultants to accelerate report building if needed.
Next steps: The committee requested the administration provide: (1) an updated bank‑reconciliation and fund‑schedule; (2) a reconciled pivotable budget worksheet tying department budgets to the appropriations ordinance for 2023–2025; and (3) a plan and timeline for evaluating and, if necessary, replacing the finance system. The chair asked that the finance department deliver monthly statements at upcoming finance committee meetings after the budget is approved.
Ending: Councilors said they were comfortable advancing the budget provided the administration supplies reconciliations and makes measurable progress on audit deliverables and finance‑system improvements.
