Kenai Peninsula Borough finance department seeks new sales-tax manager and budget software in FY26 proposal

The Kenai Peninsula Borough finance department asked the assembly May 6 to approve a FY26 budget that includes a request to hire a new sales tax manager to overlap with a long-tenured employee and a capital appropriation to investigate and potentially purchase budget software.

Finance presenter Brandy Harbaugh told the assembly the department is proposing a period of overlap so the new hire can be trained by Lori (last name not specified in the presentation), who will retire at the end of the calendar year after about 25 years of service. "We're asking for a longer time frame to be able to hire a sales tax manager just after fiscal year end," Harbaugh said. "Lori is looking to retire at the end of the calendar year. So, we're asking for that type of crossover."

The department also included a capital request, presented in the capital projects fund, to procure a more modern, centralized budget software platform intended to reduce manual spreadsheet work across departments. Harbaugh told the assembly the finance team currently spends months collecting and reconciling spreadsheet attachments from departments and that new software could reduce duplicated entry and streamline verification. She cautioned the assembly that ongoing cloud-based licensing and operating costs will likely continue after an initial purchase.

Why it matters: The sales tax division manages collections for the borough and remits city shares; Harbaugh said the borough collects "over $80,000,000" in sales tax revenue that includes city portions. The proposal aims to protect continuity in that work as the long-serving staff member retires and to reduce labor required for annual budgeting.

Budget drivers and operational details

Harbaugh outlined the department's four internal divisions (cashiers/delinquent accounts, financial services, sales tax, and administration), describing workload volumes: roughly 18,000 accounts-payable invoices processed annually, about 10,000 payroll transactions and roughly 1,000 W-2s. She said the sales tax audit team engages with about 8,000 businesses and performs both random and targeted audits.

The FY26 personnel request reflects a small increase to accommodate the overlap hire and contractual (CBA) wage adjustments. Harbaugh also highlighted an expected services cost increase tied to the remote sales-tax collection contractor: "We pay approximately 10% a year for AML to collect that remote sales tax and so it continues to rise," she said. The capital request is listed in the general government capital project fund (page 353 of the budget book), she said.

Assembly members asked about the borough's role with remote sales tax and how overcollection complaints are handled. Harbaugh said third-party remote vendors such as Amazon remit collected taxes and have processed refunds when customers showed they were overcharged for a city tax rate; she added that remote vendors remit directly to cities for remote sales tax but the borough frequently monitors the remote site and assists cities. "They have refunded those folks," Harbaugh said regarding overcharged customers. "It comes to the general fund. It's provided for education," she added when asked where the receipts land.

Operational risks and next steps

Harbaugh listed ongoing work items: implementing GASB-required disclosures (compensated absences and other liabilities), modernizing internal reporting SharePoint sites, a version upgrade of sales tax software, and continuing reconciliation of special assessments. She said the finance department will return with more details after vendor evaluations and noted that cloud software will create recurring annual operating costs.

Speakers

- Brandy Harbaugh — Finance department presenter (government, Kenai Peninsula Borough), first referenced s=111.66 - Nolan (last name not specified) — delinquent accounts supervisor (government, Kenai Peninsula Borough), first referenced s=131.36 - Sarah Dennis — controller / financial services lead (government, Kenai Peninsula Borough), first referenced s=253.00 - Mayor Michicky — mayor (government, Kenai Peninsula Borough), first referenced s=1288.38

Authorities

- Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) disclosures (type: policy) — referenced_by:["finance-department-proposed-fy26-budget-sales-tax-software-hiring"]

Actions

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Discussion vs. decision

- Discussion only: staff presented a proposal to hire a sales tax manager with overlap time, a capital project to investigate/purchase budget software, and routine personnel/operating changes. No final appropriation vote occurred during the session.

Clarifying details

- "Over $80,000,000" — approximate annual total sales tax collections (includes city shares) as stated by Harbaugh. - Sales tax office audits approximately 8,000 businesses. - Finance staff count: 22 employees across four divisions. - FY26 capital software request is listed in the general government capital project fund (page 353 in the budget document).

Proper names

[{"name":"Kenai Peninsula Borough","type":"agency"},{"name":"Betty Glick Chambers","type":"location"},{"name":"AML","type":"business"},{"name":"GASB","type":"other"}]

Community relevance

- Geographies: Kenai Peninsula Borough and its cities - Impact groups: taxpayers, businesses, school district (education funding receives sales tax remittances)

Meeting context

- Engagement level: presentation plus Q&A; multiple assembly members asked questions; presentation ran ~12:00'1:40 segment. - Implementation risk: medium (software procurement and cloud licensing create ongoing costs; hiring/knowledge transfer risk if overlap not approved) - History: the department reported multi-year capital planning and continuing GASB implementation.

Provenance

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Searchable_tags:["finance","sales tax","budget software","personnel","special assessments"]