Finance committee: staff forecasts $81,000 in refunds, seeks HDL reconciliation and $33,000 credit

City staff told the Finance Committee that a recent recalculation by vendor HDL will require the city to refund roughly $81,000 to affected businesses and that HDL will provide an account credit once the city supplies proof of refunds. "So we're looking at 81,000 in refunds," Laurie (speaker 4) said while describing the spreadsheet staff prepared to calculate payouts and expected credits.

Committee members parsed the arithmetic and the mechanics of the adjustment. The committee reviewed that the city had received about $119,000 in payments that had been processed under the earlier numbers, and the city had already paid HDL roughly $59,750 under the 50% fee split. Using HDL's revised invoice figures (about $53,000 in HDL's revised billing to the city, per staff), members and staff agreed that the city would likely show a net HDL account credit of approximately $33,000 once refunds are confirmed, though some members said the calculation needs clearer documentation for council. "We have to pay refunds of $81,000 back," Chair (speaker 3) summarized; "that means we'll be $22,163 less funds than we had before," he added while walking through the arithmetic the committee wanted in a written report.

Staff described a two-transaction approach they consider audit-friendly: (1) process payments/per existing deposits so the audit trail shows deposits and payments, and then (2) issue refunds to businesses and send HDL proof so HDL can apply a credit to the city account. Committee members asked staff to confirm whether HDL would instead issue a cash refund if the credit remained large past the end of the fiscal year, and directed staff to bring an itemized reconciliation and copies of HDL invoices to the next council agenda.