2002-05-22 WS Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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J City of Centerville March 29, 2002 Page Ten Other Items Local Tax on Gambling Organizations The City has an ordinance that requires a local tax on lawful gaming operations. There seems to be some confusion on what the gambling organizations owe and why they owe. The City should have a clear understanding of what they are entitled to and have a system to check the accuracy of what they are provided. This comment was initiated by the fact that the City had several payments received in January 2002 that were not identified on the receipt and when discussed it still was not clear what each payment was for. Investing Funds At December 31, 2001, the City had $3,328,039 in a checking account earning .75 percent. The lowest balance was approximately $950,000 in February 2001. The average appeared to be approximately $2,000,000. The City should be monitoring this balance and invest it appropriately. Filing Information We mentioned deficiency in capital projects filing earlier in the letter. We also noted that a thorough process of filing invoices is lacking. We observed several occasions where a significant time was spent in looking for an invoice. We recommend that the City consider its current filing system and improve the organization. Claim Approval The City's consent agenda indicates the Council is approving disbursements when it is really approving claims. It is important that the consent agenda accurately reflect that the City is preapproving rather than subsequently approving expenditures. Statutes don't allow for subsequent approval unless the appropriate resolution delegating approval authority to staff has been passed and that resolution has not been done. Invoice Approval Process According to City staff, several commissions have been allowed to initiate transactions outside the typical approval process. Normally a commission could make recommendations that a Council would approve and then staff would act upon. The current structure takes away from some checks and balances that should exist with administrative approvaL We recommend that any committee or commission only be allowed to recommend action and never initiate transactions. TIF Revenue Note The City has a TIP revenue note with Northern Forest Products. The amortization of the note was amended in 2000. The City paid on the note based on an old amortization. This resulted in what appeared to be a $4,000 to 5,000 overpayment. The amount paid was also in excess of the TIP received in total of the December 2000 and June 2001 settlement. The City has no obligation to pay more than what is received. The City has to be aware of the TIP agreements that are in place and the amount of their obligation. The City should also request reimbursement for the overpayment. Utility Account Set-up Water accounts are not set up until the occupancy permits are issued. This leaves a gap between when they are installed and when they are set up on the billing. We recommend that when the plumbing permit is issued that the account be set up on the system. The permit form can be modified to include all the pertinent info that would be used by the utility billing clerk. This would include the serial number on both the meter and the remote and the current reading on the meter if it isn't zero. The billing information could be changed when the new resident applies for homestead status or at the time the occupancy permit is issued.