City accountant presents midyear review; council asks for more data, takes no immediate action

City accountant Jeff Colker told the Prior Creek City Council on March 18 that the city is running a midyear deficit but is in a stronger position than at the same point last year.

Colker said payroll-related expenses had driven the year-to-date shortfall: "Your total personal service or payroll related expenses is about 4,600,000.0," and explained that January recorded an extra payroll that artificially worsened that month’s numbers. He said the city was about $534,000 in the red on the report presented (January data), and that if the council could find roughly $100,000 improvement each month for five months the city might approach breaking even by year end.

The presentation prompted detailed questions from council members about access to the city's financial software (Cassell), the status of one-time expenditures, and whether a formal internal accounting review had been completed. Colker acknowledged the internal review was not finished and said he would produce a written summary of the scope and findings he could provide as an internal report: "I will yes. I can write a report that says, this is what I did. K. And this is what I looked at, and this is what I found." Staff and council discussed whether a purchase of an additional Cassell license would be required to give the accountant direct access.

After discussion the council voted to accept the accountant's presentation; later in the agenda the council considered whether to take immediate action and instead voted to take no action at that time while directing staff to provide the accountant access to Cassell if possible and to bring a proposal for any required license or module to a future agenda. Councilmembers requested that February financial statements be supplied for an interim update and asked Colker to prepare a follow-up presentation by late April or early May so the council could reassess.

Council members and the mayor repeatedly cautioned that "getting better" did not mean the city was out of the woods. Colker and members said further improvement depends on continuing expense controls and on revenues such as sales and use taxes, which have recently trended higher.

The council also discussed longer-term options, including realigning how sales tax receipts are allocated among funds; several members said the current allocation formula sends a substantial share of sales tax revenue outside the general fund and that reexamining that allocation may be required for future budgets.

Action and next steps recorded by the council included providing Colker access to Cassell (or, if a license is required, placing the license purchase on a future agenda), supplying February financial statements, and scheduling an update for the second council meeting in late April or early May.

Ending: Colker and council members said they would continue working on expense reductions and revenue strategies while using updated monthly reports to monitor progress toward reducing the midyear deficit.