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Polk County implements Questica budgeting software; finance lead outlines audit and fund-balance work
Summary
County finance staff reported that Questica budgeting software has been implemented, described plans to integrate payroll and onboarding, and said an updated audited fund balance (2023) will be required before finalizing the 2026 budget and fund-balance policy under GASB 54.
Polk County staff told commissioners that the county has implemented Questica budgeting software and is working through rollout steps, payroll integration and a planned capital plan; staff also said they are awaiting the county’s audited financials to finalize fund-balance figures used for the 2026 budget.
Stacy (county finance lead) said the county implemented Questica “as of this last Thursday” and that payroll implementation is targeted to be live in the new system by Oct. 1. She said the county is working to provide consistent budget formats and to link budgets to audited fund-balance classifications under Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement 54.
Why it matters: staff said the audited fund balance is the authoritative figure for budgeting; without the final audit, projections are provisional. Commissioners said better real-time visibility into encumbrances and outstanding purchase orders would improve financial oversight and reduce year-end spending surprises.
Stacy walked commissioners through specific figures from the 2023 audit that staff provided in draft pages: “total fund balance under the general column of 10,700,000.0,” and she broke that total into categories that were shown in the materials as nonspendable, restricted, committed and unassigned (the unassigned amount cited in the presentation was 7,400,000.0). She also said, “The fund balance is a projection and statement in time, and the true fund balance is your audited fund balance,” and urged that the board wait for the final audit to ground 2026 budget decisions.
Staff described other priorities and constraints: integrating payroll and HR (UKG/Kronos), building a 10-year capital plan, improving visibility of encumbrances and purchase orders, and reducing manual journal entries. Staff and some commissioners warned against end-of-year “spend-down” practices and said better encumbrance tracking would reduce that risk.
Next steps: staff said they will continue the Questica rollout with department meetings in early August, expect to receive the 2024 audit timing and aim for a final audit by September, and will return with a proposed fund-balance policy and budget templates for committee review.
