Chittenden County RPC reports roughly $95,000 FY21 surplus, notes temporary June cash shortfall

The Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission’s Joint Executive & Finance Committee on Sept. 1 reviewed preliminary fiscal year 2021 results and approved quarterly journal entries for April through June.

Forest Cohen, the CCRPC’s senior business manager, told members the agency ended the fiscal year with “a surplus of around $95,000.” He said the commission requested and received a reduced indirect cost rate for January through June to limit an anticipated over-collection and potential penalty that could appear two years later. Forest said the indirect-rate adjustment included the overhead rate.

Forest described a temporary cash shortfall in June — “we experienced a lower than comfortable cash balance in June” — that the commission covered by using reserves and later returning $50,000 more to the money-market reserve than had been withdrawn. He said the organization navigated a month-long delay on a VTrans invoice by relying on those reserves and that a fuller indirect-cost analysis will be completed within about two months.

Committee members pressed for details on how the indirect-rate adjustment is applied to VTrans billings. Mike O’Brien asked specifically how the adjustment works and whether overhead was included; Forest confirmed it was and said he will provide more detail at the next meeting. Jeff Carr, who participated in the financial review and later excused himself from the meeting, said he was “pleased to see we were in the clear at the end of the fiscal year” given pandemic-related disruptions.

The committee approved the quarterly journal entries by motion. Forest said the audit will be undertaken in September and that staff will return with an audited set of figures when available.