FINANCE DIVISION
John Bennett, Finance Director
The major
responsibility of the Finance department continues to be the maintenance of the
integrity of the City's general accounting system. This requires internal auditing, ongoing monitoring of the reports
generated from the computer system to determine the accuracy of the data, and
verifying the validity of the checks issued in payment of general obligations
and payroll. We, in the Finance department, rely heavily on all of the
department supervisors for providing internal controls of City property and
monies within their jurisdiction. It is our duty to assist them in carrying out
those functions in a prudent manner.
The Finance
Department is also responsible for developing cash forecasts. This is necessary for budgetary analysis,
debt management, and general financial planning. The City's funds are invested with maturity dates that correspond
to this cash forecast. This department
attempts to invest the City's funds so as to receive the highest rate of return
possible with the least amount of risk.
The City's investment opportunities on unrestricted funds are limited to
Certificates of Deposit and U. S. Treasury Notes. Interest earnings on these unrestricted funds totaled $1,279,573
in 2001. The average yield on cash and
investments was 5.4% for 2001. The following is a comparative summary of
interest earnings and yields for the last four years:
Earnings
Yield
2001 $1,279,573 5.4
2000 $1,543,142 5.9
1999 $1,077,376 4.8
1998 $1,324,875 5.6
Computer Systems
This department continues to check the performance of
the City's computerized accounting system in order to provide reports that are
meaningful to the user and to instigate necessary changes to provide better
management of the financial operations of the City. Through the use of computer
networking, almost all of the City's departments now enter their own employee's
time sheets into our payroll program. Because we have entrusted them with this
duty, extreme caution must be taken to ensure that the proper accounting for
employee's time is executed at all times.
Payroll
At
the end of 2001, there were 232 people on the City's payroll. This figure is
comprised of 188 permanent and 44 seasonal employees. During the year, payroll
checks were written for a total of $6,963,401, which was $301,070 more than the
previous year. The City employed a total of 445 different people during 2001.
By
the end of the year, we had 16 more employees sign up to participate in the
City's automatic payroll deposit program. This brings the total number of
employees involved with this program to 100. Eventually, we would like to
achieve 100% participation.
Accounts Payable
During 2001, the Finance department issued 5,108
accounts payable checks to pay for goods and services. This represents an
increase of 69 checks over the previous year. The total amount of these checks
was $14,760,094. That is $3,095,720 more than was spent the previous year.
Accounts payable checks were issued to 1,586 different vendors, of which, 309
were local vendors.
Utility Billing
In 2001, there were 6,499 residents using City water and
sewer services. Total residential water charges for the year were $555,812 and
total sewer charges were $1,137,635. This averages out to about $261 per year
per household or approximately $65 per quarterly statement. In addition to the
residential customers, the City had 300 commercial water and sewer users. Total
commercial water charges for the year were $318,275 and total sewer charges
were $1,662,901.
At the end of the year, we had 111 senior citizens
and/or disabled citizens qualify for the low income reduced water and sewer
rates. The annual savings for each eligible customer amounts to approximately
$124.
We continue to have more customers sign up for the City's automatic water/sewer bill payment plan. Currently, there are 427 customers or 6.6% of residential users that are taking advantage of this payment plan. That is an increase of 50 customers from last year. It is our goal to have 10%-15% of our customer base using the automatic payment plan in the future.