Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Template topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee reviews budget template, urges clearer ledgers and in-house accounting
Summary
Committee members reviewed a proposed budget template organized by functions/funds and recommended switching to a more detailed ledger (QuickBooks suggested) to avoid lumping contracted services into 'office supplies' and to make vendor-level receipts available for audits.
The committee spent a substantial portion of the meeting reviewing a proposed budget template: a functional, fund-based layout with suggested objects and subobjects, and examples of how to break out roads, parks, utilities and insurance. The chair said the template is a starting point and recommended adding objects and subobjects to make expenditures transparent.
"If you want to keep people informed and be transparent, then we need to break all that stuff out," the chair said while describing categories for payroll, payroll taxes, insurance, contracted services and park maintenance. Members argued for a ledger that allows each councilor to see expenditures by department and vendor.
Several participants recommended moving to an in-house QuickBooks ledger maintained by the city secretary so that budgets and month-to-month reports can be pulled and emailed to committee members in advance of meetings. The group agreed to review the template and return with suggestions at the next meeting rather than adopt final changes at this session.
No final budget was adopted at this meeting; the committee agreed to gather vendor receipts, review last year's budget and reconvene in February to continue the draft.
