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Ellsworth officials warn payroll, benefits and audit timing squeeze next year’s budget
Summary
Finance Committee members said payroll timing, police overtime and a roughly $600,000 rise in benefits have widened a revenue gap; staff expect an audit by late summer and plan system fixes and a new finance director to improve reconciliations.
Charlie, a staff member leading the finance update, told the Finance Committee that recent staffing changes and benefit obligations have reversed prior savings and left the city with a tighter budget outlook. "We had a $600,000 increase in benefits this year alone," Charlie said, and staff are incorporating those increases into the fiscal-year projections.
The committee heard that the city is roughly 92% through the fiscal year on revenue collections but that updated projections show a net negative of about 5.9% on revenues for the year. Staff and councilors identified police overtime and dispatch payroll timing as near-term drivers of potential overages: because June payroll posts monthly, some overtime and deployment-related costs will not appear until the month-end close and may push department lines over budget once reconciled.
Council member Steve asked for clarity on whether the apparent parity between fire and police spending would hold after final payroll posts, and staff confirmed that some overtime will show as later payroll entries. "They can't retire because of the increased taxes," Steve said while urging the council to consider structural changes to control property tax growth.
Charlie said the administration has improved transparency and year-to-year tracking by moving to new accounting tools but that several long- standing issues remain — including a lack of live reconciliations and an unresolved undesignated fund balance. He described work to finish monthly close practices and said the incoming finance director should help make those processes more robust.
On staffing and systems, the committee discussed short-term options and next-cycle investments. One councilor praised the finance reports and renewed a prior suggestion to bring in a CPA firm for a limited engagement to accelerate clean-up work. Staff also flagged procurement and vendor integration gaps in the Caselle budgeting system as areas requiring consulting or technical fixes.
The meeting closed with staff saying they have scored final candidates for the finance director role and will reach out to the top scorer; an announcement could come this week or next if terms are agreed. Charlie cautioned that some fixes will take time and multi-year tradeoffs will be required to address an estimated $20 million infrastructure backlog.
The committee expects to return to these items in the next Finance Committee meeting and to post updated budget materials online as they are finalized.
