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Joplin City Council hears finance snapshot and progress report on new time-and-attendance system
Summary
City staff reported September revenues near 2024 levels and a year-to-date operating gain, while adding a new line showing more than $4 million in outstanding encumbrances; staff also said roughly 275 employees have been trained on a new time-and-attendance app with the paper timesheet phased out when payroll accuracy is confirmed.
The Joplin City Council heard a finance update Monday evening that showed September sales and use tax collections roughly in line with last year and a year-to-date operating gain, while staff flagged large outstanding encumbrances that could affect available funds.
Leslie Hawes presented the report and said sales-tax collections for September were “essentially flat, almost identical to what we collected for September 2024,” and that year-to-date revenues were up “about a half percent.” Hawes said the city is still running below the adopted budget by about $38,000 with one month remaining in the fiscal period.
Hawes also reported on the city’s general fund financials and forecast, saying operating revenue was coming in over budget and operating expenditures under budget, producing a net operating gain of about $1,400,000 through August. She added a new reporting line for outstanding encumbrances, saying there were “outstanding encumbrances of just over $4,000,000” that, if paid immediately, would substantially reduce available cash; she cited items tied to those encumbrances including fire trucks, storm sirens, police equipment and elevators at city hall.
On specific revenue streams Hawes said use tax was up sharply for September compared with the same month last year — she reported a 20% increase for the month and roughly a 5.6% gain year-to-date — while marijuana sales-tax collections have already exceeded budgeted expectations: “we've collected $746,564 and we budgeted $721,000,” she said.
The council asked whether the city should budget based on prior-year receipts; Hawes said the 2026 budget does not assume an increase in sales tax because current indicators suggest a flat year.
Hawes then gave a substantial update on the city’s time-and-attendance rollout. She said the implementation team (including Chelsea Rives for employee training and Hillary Corey for supervisors) has favored live, in-person sessions over video training and has limited class size to about 15. Hawes told the council that the final interface between CentralSquare and TCP — the accrual piece — was resolved in June and that the city has trained roughly 275 employees to date across many departments.
“We have trained about 275 employees,” Hawes said, adding that departments completed so far include the city manager’s office, communications, city clerk, city attorney, human resources, IT, CVB, building regulations, neighborhood services, planning and parts of public works and police emergency communications. She said fire department training is scheduled for the weeks of Oct. 15 and Oct. 20 and that parks will be last to align with lifeguard hiring.
Hawes described geofencing work to permit mobile clock-ins at assigned locations and said employees will run the app in parallel with paper timesheets until payroll runs correctly, after which paper timecards will be phased out. She reported broadly positive employee feedback about the app’s leave-request and hours-review features.
The informal session closed with council members praising Hawes and the rollout team. The council noted the finance update and then announced a formal council meeting would follow at 6 p.m.
The presentation provided council members with both short-term revenue context and a fuller view of near-term obligations and implementation risks around a citywide technology rollout. No formal action or vote was taken during the informal session.
