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Minutes from the special called Finance Committee meeting on November 29, 2005.
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Finance & Administration Committee Minutes
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
4:00 p.m. - City Council Conference Room - Huntington Building
Special called meeting
Members Present: Alec Farmer, Jim Hargis, John Street, Harold Perrin, Ann Williams and Darrel Dover. Other present were: Mayor Formon, City Clerk Donna Jackson, staff and media.
MINUTES
Councilman Dover motioned, seconded by Councilman Hargis, for the approval of the minutes for the November 17, 2005, meeting as provided. All voted aye. Copies were provided to all those in attendance.
ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS
Ordinance to appropriate funds for the Capital Improvement Fund fixed asset purchases: It was explained that money had been taken out of the Capital Improvement Fund for improvements that were made when the City moved the offices around. But, some of the improvements were actually fixed assets, so money is needed to be taken out of the Fixed Asset Fund and put back into the Capital Improvement Fund. It was further explained that the exact amount is not known, since some questions had arose concerning how much of the estimated amount was actually fixed assets, but the exact amount would be given to the City Clerk before the next City Council meeting so she can correct the ordinance. Councilman Dover motioned, seconded by Councilwoman Williams, to place the ordinance on the agenda for the next City Council meeting.
TRESURER’S OFFICE
2006 Budget: Chairman Perrin explained he wanted to set the process for reviewing the budget. Councilwoman Williams motioned, seconded by Councilman Dover, to meet at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 1; Monday, December 5; Tuesday, December 6; Wednesday, December 7; and Thursday, December 8 at the Huntington Building. Mr. Brian Wadley was asked to schedule each of the department heads to meet with the Finance committee on one of the scheduled days, so the committee would have a chance to ask each department head questions. It was also asked for Mr. Wadley to e-mail the committee members the day before each meeting to let them know who is scheduled.
Mr. Larry Flowers provided the committee with explanations related to budget terms.
Questions were raised concerning whether the insurance changes were in the budget or not. Mr. Larry Flowers explained he sent out an e-mail to the committee members that had an attachment with the budget with the insurance changes. It was also noted that the insurance increase was not initially set at 20% as it had been previously stated. Mr. Wadley added that they decreased the 20% because they believe 20% was too high plus they had to make the changes for dental and vision insurance changes, which is why the change in the insurance was not as high as some of the committee members thought it would be.
Questions were also raised concerning the state of the operations and maintenance account. It was asked whether the account was in a deficit or a surplus. Mr. Flowers explained the revenues increased, but so did the expenditures. Discussion was also held concerning the MATA fund. Mr. Flowers noted there was money in the MATA fund and he thought there were still some projects to be funded by MATA. It was explained that the MATA fund was supposed to be cleaned because of an ordinance that was passed earlier this year.
Discussion was then held regarding which account the sales tax money goes into.
Mr. Flowers also explained that the MATA account is being used to hold some money. Discussion followed concerning the MATA account, since the account should have a zero balance and should no longer be needed. It was decided the money in the MATA fund would be moved to the capital improvement fund.
Questions were raised regarding putting money for outside agencies under the Department of Community Development. Mr. Flowers explained that Mr. Paul Copeland had asked last year for that money to be put in the department’s fund, since he felt it fell under that area. It was decided to take the money out for outside agencies and put it back in the general operations and maintenance fund. Mr. Flowers also noted that the deficit could be covered by transferring money out of the sales tax funds to the operations and maintenance fund.
It was also questioned why the budget looks similar to last year’s budget. It was asked whether Springbrook had been used to make the 2006 budget or not. Mr. Flowers explained Springbrook had not been used to make the 2006 budget because the customizations for the budget had not been completed yet. He further explained that the IT department had not had time to work on Springbrook so they could use it for the budget process because they were busy with other matters. It was then questioned when Springbrook would be used for budgeting. Mr. Flowers stated that they’re hoping to totally prepare the 2007 budget in Springbrook. It was also explained that some modules for Springbrook had not been delivered yet.
Discussion was held as to whether the software was working or whether there were some problems with the employees. Committee members were concerned about some negative comments they had heard regarding the software and wanted to know what the problem is. Mayor Formon indicated the problem is not the software, rather its employees who are used to the old system and do not want to use the new system because of the change. He added that earlier this year, a trainer from Springbrook was on-site, but was unable to show very many financial uses for the software since he was not knowledgeable of the financial side. But, another trainer was on-site later and showed the staff how to use the financial aspects of the software. He further explained that there are so many layers to it that you can’t just plug it in and it work. Mr. Flowers added that he, some of his staff and Mr. Young will be making a trip to Siloam Springs soon to see how they’re using Springbrook and how they implemented it.
Questions were also raised concerning the generated sales tax money and in what account the money is put in.
ADJOURNMENT
With no further business, Councilman Dover motioned, seconded by Councilman Hargis, to adjourn. All voted aye.