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Committee OKs three-year DebtBook contract to consolidate debt management and forecasting
Summary
The Financial Affairs Committee approved a three-year extension of the city’s hosted DebtBook service to consolidate outstanding-debt records and add a forecasting module; the move drew questions about rising costs from alderpersons but passed 7–1.
The Wauwatosa City Financial Affairs Committee approved a three-year contract extension with DebtBook on Jan. 21, 2025, to continue hosting the city’s debt-management software and to add a forecasting module intended to consolidate spreadsheets now used for future debt projections.
John Rajini, finance director, told the committee the city has used DebtBook for two years and that the software reduced the risk of errors from multiple spreadsheets managing monthly payments across more than a dozen bond issues. Rajini said the current annual fee of $5,000 is budgeted across all funds that carry debt and that adding the forecasting module requires extending the contract to a three-year term beginning in February. He said the cost increase would be absorbed across funds and that the city expects the software to reduce staff time and error risk.
In response to alder questions, Rajini provided pricing detail included in the packet: the debt-management service would increase after the introductory pricing period, rising to $6,750 in year two and $8,500 in year three, and the forecasting (“sizing”) module would add about $5,000 per year. Rajini said the introductory price was negotiated when the city first adopted DebtBook and that the vendor had promoted other modules the city did not purchase.
Alder McCluth said the increase was “shocking” given recent budget constraints and asked whether the spreadsheet being replaced was managed in-house; Rajini said it was and that consolidating the forecasting into DebtBook would eliminate duplicate work across multiple staff and reduce the chance of mistakes. Rajini and colleagues said the additional $5,000 in 2025 will be spread among funds based on each fund’s share of outstanding debt.
Alder Phillips moved approval of the amended three-year contract with DebtBook (through February 2028); Alder Dolan seconded. The committee approved the contract in a recorded vote of 7–1.
Next steps: Finance staff will finalize contract terms and account for the escalator in future budgets; the forecasting module will be implemented to replace the city’s in-house forecasting spreadsheet.
