Heath council reviews OpenGov rollout, midyear finances and budget priorities

City of Heath Finance staff presented a midyear financial overview, fund-accounting refresher and the rollout schedule for a new OpenGov transparency dashboard during a June 4 budget workshop.

The presentation, led by Jay Ayers, explained how municipal fund accounting separates resources for the general fund, enterprise utilities and capital projects and why that structure matters for legal compliance and transparency. Ayers said the city has reorganized account codes in OpenGov and plans to publish recurring budget dashboards so directors, the council and the public can see up‑to‑date budget-to-actual information.

Ayers told the council the packet included a midyear financial report that “is a little more up to date than what you currently have” and that staff intends to move from quarterly to monthly reporting as OpenGov’s budget and planning dashboards come online. He set a target of mid-to-late July to have the director-level dashboards functional for internal review.

The midyear snapshot showed revenues generally on track through May, with property tax receipts slightly above budget and sales tax “on par.” Ayers said the city’s total year-to-date revenues were roughly $99.3 million through the period covered in the report and that departments were under budget in aggregate, with about 58.9% of FY2025 appropriations expended at midyear.

Councilmembers pressed for more and timelier data. Councilman Dodson and others asked staff to shorten the lag between the reporting period and when council sees the report, and to provide longer trend lines for volatile revenue sources such as sales tax, not just three-year comparisons. The council requested a regular cadence of budget exposure for elected members—roughly the same cadence planned for department directors—and asked that quarterly reviews be placed on council agendas.

The workshop also reviewed priorities developed from the council’s earlier strategic session and a staff summary that Ayers said used those inputs (and AI-assisted drafting) to cluster priorities into levels. Water supply and road infrastructure were shown as the highest priorities; councilmembers broadly agreed but urged clearer emphasis on stormwater, ongoing maintenance and grant-seeking as near-term priorities.

On staffing and organizational capacity, the panel’s AI-generated slide ranked employee development as a lower, longer-term priority. Several council members, including the mayor and Councilman Dodson, strongly disagreed, calling staff retention and human‑resources capacity essential and urging dedicated HR support in the coming budget.

Ayers walked the council through the budget calendar: OpenGov training and a June budget kickoff, budget submissions due June 25, a proposed budget posting on August 8 and the formal tax-rate hearings and adoption process in August–September. He noted the FY2025 annual comprehensive financial report will be presented by the external auditor Brooks & Watson on June 24.

Why it matters: the session set expectations for more frequent, public financial reporting and signaled areas the council wants prioritized—water, roads and revenue diversification—while flagging staff capacity and clearer CIP (capital improvement program) detail as necessary to make spending decisions.

Council direction and next steps: Council asked staff to (1) accelerate OpenGov dashboards so directors and council can use monthly budget-to-actuals, (2) provide longer-term trend data (10 years where feasible) for sales tax and building permits, and (3) bring clearer, dated cost estimates and an updated CIP schedule ahead of the next budget workshop. Ayers said staff will present the dashboards and additional CIP detail at upcoming meetings.