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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-22-2003 Meeting FINANCE & APPROPRIATIONS AGENDA I Consider a request by the tugusta Task Force for the Homeless for the purchase of tickets for the 6th Annual Chili Bowl 2003. I i Approve Proposed 2004 Budget Schedule. Review July 31, 2003 fisJl year operating statements and accept as information. Consider abatement Of20dl taxes on Map 59-2, Parcels 113 and l29. I - Reports from the Internal tUditor. (Requested by Commissioner Hankerson) Approve contract for Corpprate Communications RFQ #03-056A to The Alison Group. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. COMMITTEE ROOM - September 22, 2003 2:00 P. M. 10. Report from the AdminiSjator/Tax Commissioner regarding Ad Valorem Bills. Approve the acquisition of One (1) Trailer Mounted Sewer Flusher for the Utilities Department - Construction Division from Adams Equipment Company of White Plains, Georgia tr $39,849.60 (lowest bid offer on Bid 03-109). Review of a comparison study to determine if fleet maintenance cost could be reduced by bringing mainjenance "in-bouse". Presentation of Fiscal yer 2002 Audited Financial Report and changes in fInancial condition. Financial Status Report fr m the Senior Citizens Council for the month of August, 2003. I . Authorize utilization of$15,000 of Manpower Management savings to fund the Safety OffIcer position inlpublic Works and Engineering Department for the remainder of2003, authorize Public Works to fill the position and include funding in 2004 for this position td program. Discuss amending pensiof plans to change investment policy. Discussion of proposed repairs to the Law Enforcement Center and the need to begin immediately to aut~orize and finance an additional jail pod. 11. l2. 13. l4. I FINANCE & APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE COMMITTEE ROOM - September 22, 2003 2:00 P. M. PRESENT: Hons. Shepard, Chairman; Hankerson, Co-Chairman; Bridges and Williams, members; Jim Wall, Attorney; Walter Hornsby, Deputy Administrator; David Persaud, Finance Director; Donna Williams, Accounting Department; Ron Crowden, Fleet Manager, North Williamson, Tax Commissioner's OffIce; Teresa Smith, Public Works Director; Lena Bonner, Clerk of Commission. ABSENT: Hon. Bob Young, Mayor. Mr. Hornsby: I'd like to withdraw Item #6. 6. Approve contract for Corporate Communications RFQ #03-056A to The Alison Group. It was the consensus of the committee that Item #6 be deleted. CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS: 1. Consider a request by the Augusta Task Force for the Homeless for the purchase of tickets for the 6th Annual Chili Bowl 2003. I 2. Approve Proposed 2004 Budget Schedule. 4. Consider abatement of 2001 taxes on Map 59-2, Parcels 113 and 129. Mr. Bridges: I move we approve these by consent. Mr. Chairman: I second the motion and we also include in that withdrawing Item #6. Mr. Bridges: Yes, sir. Motion adopted unanimously. 10. Presentation of Fiscal Year 2002 Audited Financial Report and changes in financial condition. I Mr. Kip Plowman made a presentation highlighting the various changes in the audit report. He noted that on garbage collection billings there is not really a reconciliation process between who is actually getting the bills and who is actually receiving the service. He stated that the fund has an operating defIcit at this time and a determination should be made about why this defIcit has occurred. The fund has a $3 million dollar deficit this year. Mr. Hankerson expressed his concern about the number of people who are possibly receiving services and are not being billed for them. Mr. Plowman: That's the way it appears. I Mr. Chairman: It looks like that we're not billing enough to cover the cost of the services. I think management needs to have an answer to this committee by next time. Mr. Bridges: I move we receive this as information and pass the appropriate sections to the administration and come back to this committee with an answer about the specifIc questions. Mr. Chairman: I'll second it for purposes of discussion. Motion adopted with Mr. Williams out. 13. Discuss amending pension plans to change investment policy. Mr. Charlie May: The item we are proposing is an addendum to the investment policy statement that would allow an increase in the equity exposure from the current 50% in the 1949 plan to 60% and the 1945 and 1977 plans from 50% to 55%. It is our recommendation that we allow the pension plans to be modifIed for this increase. Mr. Chairman: And that was the recommendation from the Pension Committee. I Mr. May: Yes, sir. Mr. Bridges: I make the motion we approve the recommendation of the Pension Committee. Mr. Hankerson: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. 5. Reports from the Internal Auditor. (Requested by Commissioner Hankerson) Mr. Cosnahan: We have eight reports in your package and the main one I would call your attention to is the 911 fees. You've got 911 fees not being paid to you by one company and you've got other companies paying you $1.00 instead of$1.50. We've been working with Mr. Wall trying to get some information and we've been unsuccessful. We suggest that Mr. Wall assist us in getting into AlItel's records and fmd out why they're not remitting to you. There is about $416,000 involved. The recommendation is to ask the attorney to continue to enforce compliance with the resolution and to authorize us to conduct an audit of Alltel' s books and records regarding I 2 I the collection and remittance of the charges billed to the residents in Augusta-Richmond County jurisdiction. Mr. Cosnahan made a report about the control testing at the Augusta Municipal Golf Course. He noted that receipts are not generated for all sales and recommended that that they should be. He also stated that there is a lack of segregation of duties and they are recommending that the manager initial the cash receipts and deposit slip and take them to the bank. He said that they checked cash drawers for fIfteen days and noted that out of the fifteen days the cash reconciliation was short on two days and over on eleven days by no big amounts. Voids were approved by the manager and they recommended that the manager sign off on all void transactions. After a discussion, Mr. Hankerson: I'm concerned that these recommendations be adhered to and if I need to put this in the form of a motion after this discussion, that's what we need to do. Mr. Chairman: If you'd like to go ahead and do that, we can do that now. Mr. Hankerson: All right. I so move. Mr. Williams: I'll second it. I Mr. Cosnahan: It would be a good rule if every sale is rung up in the cash register. Mr. Chairman: Doesn't the motion do that? Mr. Cosnahan: It would and then it would be followed up to be sure it is done. Mr. Mays: If you would consider an amendment to send this to Public Services to do this now and to consider using a better system of checks and balances with the current personnel there or assign a person from the central office to monitor the activities at the golf course and that this be done immediately. We also don't need to advertise the fact that the money stays in the vault at night. Mr. Hankerson: I'll accept that amendment. Motion adopted unanimously. I Mr. Cosnahan next discussed the report on the cable franchise fees. He noted that Comcast and Knology are charged 5% of their revenue and Charter is charged 3%. He recommended that they be charged equal fees. He stated that they are required to give a statement of their sales for each year and that he has not been able to get that for 2002 or 2001 and that it should be looked into. They also recommended that their fees be due on a monthly basis rather than a quarterly basis. 3 Mr. Bridges: I make the motion that we accept the recommendation and that all of the grantees be charged the same thing. I Mr. Wall: That's already being done and I was not aware that they were not paying and I'll be glad to follow up with that. Mr. Bridges: I'll withdraw that motion then. Mr. Wall: Changing the fees from quarterly to monthly would be something that would require the consent of the companies to make the change. The existing franchise agreement provides for quarterly payments. Mr. Cosnahan: Knology is also not paying on time. Mr. Hornsby: We are in the process of instituting an accounting system that would track things such as this. Mr. Williams: I'll make a motion that we receive this as information and ask Mr. Wall to report as to what is being done and where we are with that. Mr. Wall: I'll be glad to get with Finance and find out what kind of payments Knology is delinquent on and whether that's a habitual thing or a one-time occurrence. Mr. Shepard: Could you bring that back to legal where we can make a decision as to whether we need to litigate with them? I'll second the motion. I Mr. Cheek: I'd like to request to this committee at some point ifit's not already being done to audit the hotel/motel proceeds and the taxes. I understand we've had an increase in overnight stays but the tax proceeds do not match that number. Mr. Chairman: We'll put it on the next committee meeting. Motion adopted unanimously. Mr. Cosnahan discussed the next report regarding the petty cash and vending machine funds. He stated that there were some overages and some shortages but there were no large differences. Mr. Hankerson: A motion for approval. Mr. Bridges: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. Mr. Bridges: I so move that we carry the remainder of the reports over to the next meeting. I 4 I Mr. Williams: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. 7. Report from the Administratorffax Commissioner regarding Ad Valorem Bills. Mr. Williamson: We are probably on schedule to mail the tax bills for 2003. We're putting them in the mail on Friday the 26th with a discount date of October 16 and a due date of November 26. The total digest to be billed is $101,065,425.67. It represents 83,481 accounts. Mr. Williams: I move we receive this as information. Mr. Chairman: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. 8. Approve the acquisition of One (1) Trailer Mounted Sewer Flusher for the Utilities Department - Construction Division from Adams Equipment Company of White Plains, Georgia for $39,849.60 (lowest bid offer on Bid 03-109). I Mr. Bridges: I move we accept the low bid. Mr. Chairman: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. 9. Review of a comparison study to determine if fleet maintenance cost could be reduced by bringing maintenance "in-house". Mr. Bridges: I move that we defer this to the next meeting. Mr. Williams: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. 11. Financial Status Report from the Senior Citizens Council for the month of August, 2003. Mr. Lawrence Hammond made a report regarding the above item. I Mr. Bridges: I would like to a month to month comparison if that's possible along with a cumulative total and I make that in the form of a motion. 5 Mr. Chairman: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. I 12. Authorize utilization of $15,000 of Manpower Managedtent savings to fund the Safety Officer position in Public Works and Engineering Department for the remainder of 2003, authorize Public Works to fill t~e position and include funding in 2004 for this position and program. Ms. Smith: Last year we requested a Safety Officer for the Public Works Department and we were asked to include it in our 2003 budget. We did so as a new program and it was not approved. We came back and requested it again. The position was approved and we were authorized to conduct interviews. We have completed interviews and are requesting this amount of money to fund the position for the remainder of the year. I will come back to the Commission with the specifIc salary. Mr. Hornsby: We recommend approval of that. Mr. Bridges: I make a motion we approve as stated in the agenda. Mr. Williams: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. I 3. Review July 31, 2003 fiscal year operating statements and accept as information. Mr. Persaud: This is our report for July. Mr. Bridges: I move we accept it as information. Mr. Williams: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. Lena J. Bonner Clerk of Commission nwm I 6