pages: CityCouncil/2009-02-07.pdf, 3
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CityCouncil | 2009-02-07 | 3 | consolidated; stated the City probably should be closer to 70 funds; the City has a lot of Assessment Districts impact fees by geography are being reviewed for Capital Improvement funds, which currently have four funds; work is harder than it needs to be in some areas; staff is working on cleaning up the FY 2009-10 budget. Councilmember Gilmore inquired whether ancient hardware cannot run the finance software or whether the current software needs to be used differently. The Interim Finance Director responded both; stated the software is unix based, which is a problem. Mayor Johnson noted the problem seems to be a deferred maintenance issue. The Interim Finance Director stated the hardware cannot run anything new; the matter would be discussed under the Internal Service Funds (ISF) ; staff is addressing the issue. Councilmember Tam inquired whether one finance staff person is assigned as a liaison for each department. The Interim Finance Director responded departments are divided amongst four staff members; outlined the assignments. Councilmember Tam stated deferred maintenance has been passed on from prior years and continues to be pushed off; it is mutually exclusive to spend money to improve operations while cuts are being made at the same time; stated that she needs to understand how said tension is dealt with to achieve a balance. Vice Mayor deHaan stated budgets have been cut by $4 to $5 million every year; there always seem to be surprises some surprises were improper accounting of funds; there are always discoveries late in the game that he would like to hear how the City will avoid said circumstance. The Interim Finance Director stated having a fresh set of eyes helps; staff is going through each fund; a lot was discovered in the first quarter that she is confident in the way program performance budgets work; issues will be smoked out once the City forces itself to budget revenue and expenses on an expenditure program basis; funds are being cleaned up to make management easier; surprises come up when funds have been earmarked in an annotation, but not included in the accounting system; the two worlds have not met; in the last six months, the Finance Department has worked diligently to determine what funds are available; that Special Meeting Alameda City Council 3 February 7, 2009 | CityCouncil/2009-02-07.pdf |