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Westminster finance department outlines 2025 workplan, proposes email opt‑in for delinquent tax notices
Summary
Finance Director (acting) Larry Doerr presented the finance department’s structure and priorities at the March 3 study session, highlighting sales‑tax audit activity, procurement improvements, planned banking and merchant RFPs, and a staff request to allow electronic delivery of delinquent sales‑tax notices where businesses opt in.
Larry Doerr, who described his background as a long‑time municipal finance professional, presented an overview of the City of Westminster’s finance department and its 2025 priorities during the March 3 study session.
Why it matters: The finance office runs core city operations — accounting, treasury, sales and use tax collection, procurement and purchasing card systems — and its policies shape how the city collects revenue and spends public funds. Doerr highlighted continued investments in procurement, electronic tax filing and vendor competition as ways to increase efficiency and recover revenue.
Key points from the presentation:
- Structure and staffing: The finance department includes accounting, treasury, sales‑tax auditing and procurement functions. Staffing has been adjusted for enterprise service transfers (utility billing moved to Public Works and Utilities) and to accommodate new roles; Doerr said a permanent chief financial officer hire is in progress and council confirmation is expected in April. - Sales tax and audits: The sales‑tax division performs about 100 audits per year and staff cited approximately $3 million in audit yield in recent cycles. The city participates in a multi‑city cloud sales‑tax platform that Doerr said keeps system costs down through shared templates and pooled purchasing. Doerr noted the division’s SaaS contract and other software subscriptions as the single largest recurring cost (approximately $500,000 of the department’s contractual services line item). - Treasury and procurement: Treasury manages debt, investment and banking relationships; staff will issue RFPs for banking and merchant‑card services. Procurement has centralized buying, improved bid competition (staff cited 16 bids for the US Bank building demolition) and aims to create citywide contracts and templates to generate savings. - Paperless delinquency notices proposal: Staff asked the council to consider a code change allowing the finance office to send delinquent sales‑tax notices by email to filers who opt in, instead of mandated US mail. Doerr said about 80% of filers have emails on file and that email notice would reduce postage and processing costs while improving collection timeliness; staff proposed keeping US mail available for those who prefer it.
Other items: Doerr described work on GASB accounting standard changes, the city’s continuing disclosure obligations for municipal debt, and an internal focus on capital‑asset accounting (the city reported more than $1.1 billion in fixed assets that require tracking in audit reports). The procurement team will continue to standardize templates and pursue the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing’s award program.
Ending: Councilors and staff discussed the email‑notification proposal and asked staff to return with implementation details and safeguards to prevent missed notices. Doerr said the treasury and procurement RFPs will proceed and that the new CFO will join the department leadership in the weeks ahead.
