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County finance staff report ARPA encumbrances and propose changes to budget tracking for over-target requests
Summary
Tompkins County finance staff said ARPA funds were encumbered for 2024, reported progress on opioid fund tracking, and discussed changes to how the county records and reports over-target requests (OTRs) in the budget software to improve transparency and reduce administrative time.
Laurie Skerritt, Director of Finance, told the committee on Jan. 9 that staff had secured encumbrances for the county’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for year-end 2024 and that the county continues to track opioid settlement funds and related program adjustments.
“Thanks to Samantha Freylich in our office, we have all of the ARPA funds encumbered appropriately for year end of 2024,” Skerritt said, citing work by staff in the finance office. Committee members commended the work.
Skerritt and county administration also described challenges with the county’s budget software when reporting “over-target requests” (OTRs) and the administrative time required to extract and present those requests. Skerritt said the county received “25 or 30 over target requests” this year and that, unlike typical line-item operating requests, the county’s current practice treats some OTRs as separate proposals, creating extra work to reconcile them during review.
Skerritt said a likely solution would be to present OTRs as additional line items within departments’ line-item budgets rather than as standalone budget proposals. “Adding lines to the line item budget rather than creating a whole other proposal … would be less confusing for the public and less confusing for the legislature in the long run,” she said.
Legislators asked for visibility on multiyear OTRs that turn into ongoing target items; Deborah Dawson asked that whatever presentation method is chosen preserve visibility so the legislature can assess whether a multiyear OTR should convert to a target line. Rich John and others framed the work as a step toward more timely financial reporting; one legislator described the goal as closer to real-time cash reporting.
County administration said it will work with departments and return with proposals during the 2025 budget cycle. Staff said the change is internal to county budgeting and not part of the legislature’s formal budget authority, though it will affect how legislators receive and review proposals.
