Shelby County committee reviews budget data, discusses monthly financial-report format and tables request to specify report

Shelby County committee members reviewed year-to-date budget figures and discussed what the treasurer should include in a monthly financial-status report required by statute, then voted to table a request for a specific report format until staff could obtain example outputs from the county's financial software.

At the Jan. 28 meeting the treasurer provided a year-to-date snapshot and committee members used a 16.6% benchmark as a yardstick for two months into the fiscal year. Members discussed several items that affect early-year percentages, including a large insurance premium payment that was described during the meeting as roughly $300,000 and the timing of ARPA-funded transactions. Committee members noted that certain budget line items — for example, a highway MFT equipment line budgeted at $350,000 — had not been spent in prior years and should be examined for continued necessity.

The committee also examined how ARPA and grant receipts are shown in budget reports. Speakers explained that some ARPA-funded activity was held in separate accounts and therefore did not appear directly as revenue in the operating budget line until funds were moved or obligated; members cautioned that viewing expense lines without matching revenue can give the appearance of a deficit even when restricted funds exist.

A substantive part of the discussion focused on the preferred content and format of a monthly "report of financial status" the treasurer must file under 55 ILCS 5/3-10005.2. Committee members said the preferred report should include a beginning and ending balance for every account, a grand total, and clear identification of CDs, savings and checking accounts (principal, rate and maturity). Committee members asked whether the county's financial system (CIC) could produce a consolidated report by fund or by bank that shows those details and suggested staff obtain sample report formats from the vendor.

After discussion, the committee tabled item 9 — the motion to adopt a preferred form for the monthly treasurer report — to allow staff time to collect example outputs from CIC and to draft a concise specification the treasurer can produce monthly. The motion to table carried by voice vote.

Committee members asked the treasurer to return with sample report formats (summary plus detail), to confirm which fields CIC can produce (for example, beginning/ending balances and CD maturities) and to present a consolidated run sheet that would give a complete month-end financial snapshot in a compact format.