■ Committee also to discuss work plan
Benicia Finance Committee will hear an update Friday on the city’s plan to revise the Finance Department’s computing system, a task that impacts other departments as well.
The panel also will examine its progress on its 2013-15 work plan.
The city has been working toward an improved Finance Department computer system since 2011, when it contracted with its longtime vendor, SunGard, for a $66,000 software upgrade to a program called ONESolution the company had recommended because it was changing its focus from other programs.
But the transition proved more difficult than expected, because the city’s computers and current system, Bi-Tech, wouldn’t accommodate the upgrade.
Mike Mucha, senior manager with the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), described the continuing problems to the Finance Committee Jan. 24, when City Manager Brad Kilger and interim Finance Director Brenda Olwin announced the city was looking at other options after the cost to put ONESolution in place increased to between $300,000 and $500,000.
Since then, with help from GFOA, the city has made interim changes that have improved the way the current Finance Department’s computer system operates so that employees are less dependent on paper and complicated data entry, Kilger and Olwin have said.
In a new report to the Finance Committee, Finance Director Karin Schnaider wrote that a draft of a report about system options and recommendations has been written after those options had been examined.
The department has access to Web-based reporting, timecard uploads and lockbox processing, Schnaider wrote.
Cost accounting, code and other improvements are under way as well, she wrote.
It’s too early, however, to assemble a request for proposals from vendors, she added.
In other business, when the committee looks at its work plan status report, they will see that a staff analysis of the city’s Marina Fund should be ready before winter.
Also coming soon will be the preparation of a long-term capital improvement plan. Schnaider wrote that a report on the plan is being modified to include new information, cost studies and funding information.
That report also is due sometime this fall, as is a report on the California Public Employees Retirement Service (CalPERS) path to sustainability project.
Preliminary revenue forecast models have been developed for a 10-year forecast on the city’s enterprise funds, Schnaider wrote.
She explained that the capital planning element is critical to the city’s overall financial status, but the committee won’t see the update until early 2015.
Also due in spring of next year is a report on unfunded liabilities, she wrote.
In progress are training sessions on the city’s Comprehensive Annual Finance Report (CAFR), which audits Benicia’s finances, and a report on the city’s reserves policy.
Six work plan items already have been accomplished, Schnaider wrote the committee. Those are a study of the city’s solar operations, actuarial studies, cost allocation studies, a long-range financial forecast, the initiation of all-fund financial reports and an update of the city’s water and wastewater rates.
Also Friday, the Finance Committee will undergo its annual Open Government awareness training, and will review the city’s warrant register that records the city’s payments to vendors.
The meeting starts at 8 a.m. in the Commission Room of City Hall, 250 East L St.
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