The journey of a start-up can be difficult, made more complicated by the different rounds of external funding needed for growth. Startups seek this funding from external investors to fund their growth journey and it is usually raised through a series of investment rounds from friends, family and early business angels, and capital- venture (VC) and private equity (PE) ventures at later stages. These financing rounds become more expensive for the start-up as the capital invested increases.

Generally, the venture capital funding stage is considered crucial, as it is often the first major professional funding round, and indicates that a start-up is showing true potential. Attracting VC interest and ultimately closing a funding round is cause for celebration, however, this success also signifies the start of a new chapter in the startup’s growth journey. This chapter brings a whole host of opportunities, but also higher expectations and the need for a step change in financial reporting and KPIs. It is therefore imperative that the company’s finance department is effectively set up and prepared for scaling.

This blog will discuss the expectations of start-ups before and after funding and the vital role finance leadership plays in effectively achieving those goals and overall business growth.

Pre-financing: the expectations of a start-up before a funding round

For a VC to decide whether or not to invest in a startup, they need a wealth of information, including but not limited to:

• Financial reports, analyzes and timelines
• Due Diligence in Support of Commercial/Financial
• Forecasts and future plans
• Model projections
• Capitalization tables
• Terminology records

It is clear that it takes a lot of time and effort to produce these reports and documents, which often require several iterations. Most of the heavy lifting is done by the finance department, a function that is usually already understaffed and overused. The finance department must therefore ensure that it is prepared for these increases in demand by having (surge) capacity, skills and tools in place.

Post-financing: the permanent expectations of a start-up after a funding round

A common and often underestimated consequence of securing a large investment is that the business must now operate to higher standards, across a variety of dimensions, for example after completing a round of equity funding- risk, start-ups are often subject to a strictly enforced shareholder agreement. . The shareholder agreement for professional investors is much more complex and difficult to navigate than a simple funding agreement typically used for friends, family and angel investors. The professional/institutional investor’s Shareholder Agreement contractually guarantees the investor certain rights such as the provision of financial information, consultation rights, rights of first refusal and observer rights. As part of the Shareholder Agreement, the start-up can be expected to provide the following financial information:

1. Historical annual, quarterly and monthly balance sheet, income and cash flow statements
2. Audited financial statements with year-over-year analysis
3. Capital structure schedule
4. Projections, annual capital budgets and strategic plans
5. Complete tax schedules
6. Schedules of assets, liabilities, expenses and equity

While a startup may not need a large finance department and a dedicated CFO during the pre-funding stages, the need for a connected, scaled finance team can quickly materialize afterwards. funding and once revenues have increased.

An underdeveloped and understaffed financial department could prevent a start-up from meeting the aforementioned requirements, which could hamper its future growth.

Challenges and possible solutions VCs see in scaling start-up financial services

Through discussions with technology-focused venture capitalists, we discovered that an often underdeveloped area of ​​a startup is its finance function. Lack of capacity within the finance department is usually revealed during the pre-funding due diligence phase, which tends to lead to delays in producing accurate financial data, financial statements and schedules – both prospective and historical. This can significantly delay the investment process and in some cases cause it to stop.

The financial management of a start-up must therefore be prepared for growth. However, there are some challenges in addressing and expanding this critical function; these challenges relate to leadership, people and technology. Finding a strong leadership personality (CFO or CFO) with relevant experience is tedious. Additionally, hiring and retaining finance experts is difficult due to a limited pool of qualified talent and competitive offerings from major brands. Finally, start-ups often struggle to implement an effective IT architecture that enables automation and can scale with the business due to time and budget constraints.

In summary

In conclusion, the above challenges can often be overcome by ensuring that an investment in the finance function (particularly in leadership, people and technology) is made early enough in the business journey. This investment should result in the recruitment of the right profiles and the establishment of adequate and scalable systems, processes and controls. Relying on a managed service provider to achieve these goals can also allow a business to set itself up for success and prepare for challenges before and after funding, with a relatively limited budget. Meeting these challenges will prepare the function for future success and save considerable costs and time in the long run.

When we think of this time of year, it’s not uncommon to think how busy we are.

For the city’s finance department, the holidays are busy for a different reason — working hard to close the current year’s books and prepare to implement an approved budget for next year.

Our finance department provides many services both within our organization and to the community. They have a proven track record of financial accountability and have received the State Auditor’s Award of Distinction for Excellence in Financial Reporting and Accountability for the past 11 years.

Our team is responsible for managing the city’s revenues and expenses to ensure we operate within our means each year, completing payroll, administering the annual budget and capital plan, completing required reports, create a tax budget and help residents and businesses with tax issues. as they arise.

Additionally, our finance department is focused on making it easier for you to see how your tax money is being spent. The department has prepared the city’s first popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR) in 2022, available at grandviewheights.gov.

One of the services our team offers directly to the community is to provide residents and businesses with two income tax administrators available for income tax questions or issues. They can be contacted at tax@grandviewheights.gov.

Grandview Heights Town Notes: Ministry stands ready to help with fire prevention education

As income tax requirements have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, we frequently receive questions regarding state law. Under state law, municipal income tax must be withheld by employers and paid where the work is performed. Before the pandemic, that meant that if someone worked in Columbus and lived in Grandview Heights, they paid Columbus income taxes.

When many employees began working from home during the pandemic, the General Assembly temporarily allowed employers to continue withholding work done before the pandemic from the city. On December 31, 2021, this ended, meaning employers began to withhold city income tax again based on where the work is performed. For those who work from home, this is now their home city, or it can be a mix of their home city and the city in which their employer’s office is located.

If you reside and work for an employer in Grandview Heights, there is no need to change your deduction. If your employer is based outside of Grandview Heights and you work from home, please ask your employer to begin withholding taxes for Grandview Heights immediately. Even if you don’t work from home every day, your employer is required to withhold income taxes for Grandview Heights on the days you work from home.

While where you pay your income taxes may not seem to matter at first glance, it matters a lot for municipal services. Due to the fact that many industries in Grandview Heights are planning to work from home in a somewhat non-disruptive manner, we have seen our tax revenue drop more than most cities in central Ohio.

Our resources to provide modern infrastructure, emergency services, garbage collection, parks programs and all of our other services rely primarily on these local tax revenues. Making sure your employer pays your taxes to the right municipality makes all the difference in our ability to operate. For additional resources and frequently asked questions, visit grandviewheights.gov and select Grandview Heights Income Tax under our “Services” tab.

Greta Kearns is the mayor of Grandview Heights.

LAHORE: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Punjab Finance Department on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to launch Raast on e-Pay Punjab, a mobile application developed by the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB).

Special Secretary of Punjab Finance Department Muhammad Ali Randhawa and SBP Finance Director Qader Baksh signed the MoU in the presence of Punjab Finance Minister Muhammad Mohsin Leghari.

The parties have agreed to use Raast Payment Gateway, allowing the Punjab government to send payments using the Electronic Funds Transfer mode. Under the new agreement, the Punjab government will disburse payments, including supplier payments, wheat supply payments, subsidies, salaries, pensions and PSPA subsidies, digitally to citizens and companies directly in their accounts. This will put an end to the old and cumbersome system of Treasury check payments.

On occasion, the Finance Minister of Punjab has applauded the PITB for crafting initiatives to make people’s lives easier. PITB IT-Ops Managing Director, Faisal Yousaf briefed the audience on the IT interventions deployed by PITB including e-Pay Punjab and explained how these technologies provide user-friendly services to citizens.

Finance Director Qader Baksh ensured cooperation with all parties to extend the services of Raast Payment Gateway to the Government of Punjab.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022

• Elon Musk’s ultimatum to Twitter employees didn’t go as planned.
• Several hundred workers and entire departments resigned on Thursday.
• One department hit by a large wave of resignations is finance, including payroll.

Much of Twitter’s financial organization, including its payroll department, left the company on Thursday in response to an ultimatum from Elon Musk that apparently backfired.

Along with the payroll department’s resignation, Twitter’s U.S. tax team and its financial reporting team also resigned, two people familiar with the matter said, matching multiple internal posts seen by Insider. All three segments of the company were part of Twitter’s financial and accounting organization. While the accounting was “less impacted” by Thursday’s resignations, that part of the organization is also smaller now, one of the people said.

Employees are expected to be paid again next week, a former worker said. While those payments have likely already been approved, the next round of payments will not have been, the person said.

“What happens in two weeks?” the person asked. “When everyone who can approve of something is gone.”

“Now we will never see our money again,” said another former employee. Everyone who spoke with Insider asked not to be identified discussing sensitive topics. An email requesting comment from Twitter last night was not returned.

The loss of payroll and other finance department employees came amid a mass resignation of Twitter employees who refused to sign up to Musk’s proposed “Twitter 2.0.” In a Tuesday email, the billionaire, who took over Twitter about three weeks ago, said the platform would now be an “extremely hardcore” and forward-thinking place to work. He told the entire company to decide by Thursday at 5 p.m. ET whether they wanted to continue working on this version of Twitter. Those who did had to click on a link included in the email. Those who did not click on the link, which only had a “yes” option, would be considered to have decided to be part of a voluntary dismissal and would receive three months’ salary as severance pay, Musk said.

By the time the deadline expired, less than 50% of Twitter employees had signed up for Musk’s Twitter 2.0, as Insider reported. Musk, members of his personal transition team and some executives who remained on Twitter made personal calls and held meetings with several workers in an effort to urge them to stay with the company. While a few agreed, most disagreed.

By the end of Thursday, Twitter had several hundred additional employees and an internal Slack channel was “inundated” with greeting emojis, used by Twitter employees to say goodbye to co-workers.

Earlier this month, Musk laid off nearly 3,500 employees. Combined with Thursday’s resignations, two workers estimated there were likely fewer than 2,000 employees left at the company.

Are you a Twitter employee or someone else with ideas to share? Contact Kali Hays at khays@insider.com, on the secure messaging app Signal at 949-280-0267, or via Twitter DM at @hayskali. Reach out using a non-professional device.

Cape May Court House, NJ – Almost a year ago, Chad Murnaghan decided to trade in his helmet and construction sitescape for a calculator and an office environment – and his new colleagues are so happy he has it do.
The former laborer is now an accounts clerk for Middle Township’s finance department, helping manage township expenses. He takes pride in his work and is a valuable part of the team, earning him recognition as November’s employee of the month.
“I pay the bills,” Murnaghan said. “I have a degree in accounting and I’m a person who likes numbers, so this job suits me perfectly. And it’s an honor to work for the city where I was born and raised.
Murnaghan is indeed a stickler for numbers: his scrutiny of Middle’s utility accounts reduced the township’s liability by about $50,000.
“I have a lot of helpful colleagues behind me who make success possible,” Murnaghan said. “A lot of people in this town work really hard. It’s a brand new career for me and everyone in the department has been tolerant and kind.
Betzy McClintock, another accountant, nominated McClintock for the employee of the month honor.
“Working with Chad is an absolute pleasure,” said McClintock. “He helped keep the ship afloat in the finance office. He is humble about his accomplishments and says he is just doing his job, but the time and energy he puts in goes beyond that.
Mayor Tim Donohue, who oversees the township’s finance department, said Murnaghan is a model employee.
“Chad has been an exemplary member of our township’s finance team,” he said. “His strong work ethic, willingness to learn new skills and overall disposition made him a pleasure to work with everyone in the office. He is well deserving of this honor and I am happy to have him on our team. !
Murnaghan will be recognized at the November 21 city committee meeting.

(Visited 48 times, 2 visits today)

By Ryan Clark
NKyTribune journalist

An external review of the city’s finance department revealed 55 high-priority recommendations for change, including major upgrades on everything from creating standard operating procedures for employees to providing more training on internal software .

Representatives from the Chicago-based Baker Tilly Company made the presentation at the Commission’s regular legislative meeting on Tuesday evening. But they first started by saying that the employees in the department “really want to do a good job”, are passionate and work long hours.

But, as Mayor Joseph U. Meyer noted, there have been two separate major theft incidents in the department in the past 10 years. According to Baker Tilly, changes need to be made.

The findings of their report include recommendations such as:

Create standard operating procedures for each employee
Establish clear policies and objectives
Investigate technical training and development opportunities for employees
Establish clear policies for the use of credit cards
Revisit (but not necessarily cancel) the work-from-home policy
Added a position focused on budget development, while monitoring the comings and goings of finances
Addition of an internal audit position in the general manager’s office.
Creating a “Who to call” list
Training financial staff on the software
Implementation of an acquisition card program
Development of an annual audit plan

Baker Tilly representatives noted that these recommendations could not be implemented quickly; in fact, it would take a long time. However, they will then provide the City with an implementation guide.

“Thank you all for the depth and quality of this presentation,” Meyer said. “You have identified many ways to improve…. and a number of policies and procedures need to be significantly improved.

The mayor agreed that implementation would be a slow but necessary process.

“I think your recommendations are complete,” he said. “And I think that’s a great roadmap.”

local hero

Commissioners read a resolution honoring local citizen Rudy Ramirez-Roblero, for “appreciation of his acts of bravery and citizenship in assisting members of the Covington Police Department.”

On June 3, Ramirez-Roblero was leaving a religious event in the 15th and Russell Street area when he saw a police officer arrive, get out of his police cruiser and chase a suspect during an incident. Another suspect, Breanna Wright, then entered the police car with the intention of stealing it.

Ramirez-Roblero then put himself in danger by removing Wright from the car.

“He parked the vehicle and waited for the police to come for a report,” police chief Brian Valenti said. “His actions were above the call of duty as a citizen.

“Rudy Ramirez-Roblero’s actions epitomize the best of all citizens of Covington.”

Financial report

Steve Webb, Chief Financial Officer, presented a first quarter financial report to the city, which included:

• There is currently a deficit of $1.7 million in the general fund, but Webb noted that taxes will be collected in the spring

• General revenue ahead of last year

• Expenditure to date is $13,126,107 against an overall budgeted amount of $69,213,228.

Mortgage help

Commissioners approved the plan for the city’s ARPA-funded Mortgage Assistance Program, which will use $500,000 to help potential buyers reduce mortgage interest rates or pay down payment and closing costs associated with the purchase of owner-occupied or vacant homes in eligible census tracts, or QCTs.

ARPA Mortgage Assistance will be a grant of up to $15,000 to help families buy a home, with a spending limit of $350,000.

City officials said the program would be run the same way as the HOME down payment assistance and CDBG home repair programs. The goal is to increase the number of homeowners in QCTs, which are defined as census tracts in the city where 51% of the population earns 65% or less of the region’s median income.

Interested buyers will then apply online here: https://portal.neighborlysoftware.com/COVINGTONKY/participant

Heritage Professions Program

Commissioners approved a sub-recipient agreement with the Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky for tuition and expenses, and building stabilization expenses, associated with 1515 Madison Ave. – which will be used as a working laboratory for the Covington Academy of Heritage Trades.

Previously, the city set aside $250,000 of ARPA funds to support the development of the new Covington Academy of Heritage Trades. As a sub-recipient, the Northern Kentucky Building Industry will deploy funds to stabilize the building and cover tuition and supplies for Covington residents who enroll in the workforce training program. ‘work.

Bridge works

Commissioners approved a $69,500 contract with Emersion Design LLC to provide a design for the Covington Walkway at the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge.

In 2019, the city’s economic development department hired Garner Economics to complete a strategic plan, and one of the recommendations was to improve walkways to the city, which would include new signage initiatives, landscaping and embellishment.

Changed text for kennels

Commissioners approved a proposal to amend the Neighborhood Development Code to add kennels as a conditional use to Limited Industrial Districts.

The Neighborhood Development Code’s Limited Industrial District (LI) was developed for “low to moderate impact warehousing, wholesale, and manufacturing uses,” city documents say. “This neighborhood covers many areas adjacent to the railway in Covington. The recommended text change would allow kennel uses that receive a conditional use permit to operate in this district as they are suitable for the large format buildings associated with this district.

Port Authority Camera Grant

The Covington Police Department has been approved to receive a $157,180 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Port Security Grants Program — along with a city matching ($52,393).

The funds will be used to expand the Riverfront Commons camera program west, “from Madison Landing to just east of the existing Brent Spence Bridge,” city plans say. “This will add 18 additional cameras along Covington’s Riverfront Commons hiking and biking trail.”

iPad Technology Pilot Program

Commissioners approved the use of ARPA funds under a contract with the Covington Independent Public School District to carry out a pilot program with JE Biggs families that “features and measures the impact of City-provided iPads and early literacy apps on participating children’s kindergarten readiness,” city documents say.

The program will use $73,334 for Read Ready Covington’s “iPad Technology Pilot Program,” which the Covington Independent Public School District will use for three consecutive school years. The project will monitor the impact that city-provided iPads and early literacy apps have on two classes of 4-year-olds and their families at JE Biggs Preschool.

The school district will provide technical and instructional support, and the program will begin immediately after the technology arrives.

Promotion

The commissioners approved the promotion of James Johnson to the post of storm water maintainer.

Hiring

Commissioners approved the hiring of Joseph Meimann, Code Enforcement Officer, Allyson Schaeffer, Code Enforcement Inspector, and Hillary Williams, Recreation Program Coordinator.

Resignations

The commissioners approved the resignations of Angela Umbarger, tax auditor, and Devyn Harris, police officer.

Reappointments

The commissioners approved the renewal of the mandates of: Pamela Mullins, at the Human Rights Commission; Omar Gray at the Code Enforcement Hearing Panel; Rebecca Weber on the Architecture Review and Development Board; and Matthew Roetting on the Audit Committee

And the nominations of:

Sheree Weichold to Alcoholic Beverage Control Administrator; and Kathleen Summe on the Linden Grove Cemetery Board of Trustees

Next meeting

The next regular meeting of the Covington Commission will be a caucus meeting to be held at 6 p.m., November 22, at the City Building at 20 W. Pike St. in Covington. The meetings can be followed live on Fioptics channel 815, Spectrum channel 203, the Telecommunications Board of Northern Kentucky (TBNK) website, TBNK Facebook page @TBNKonline and TBNK Roku channels.

The City of Joliet has made changes to the head of its finance department.

Kevin Sing, who joined the city in March as budget director, was named chief financial officer on Tuesday.

James Ghedotte, the city’s chief financial officer for eight years, is now assistant chief financial officer,

City Manager James Capparelli made the changes, but would not comment on The Herald-News.

Sing, however, confirmed he was now chief financial officer and said “it was my understanding” that Ghedotte had become deputy chief financial officer. He returned questions about why the change was made to Capparelli.

The change comes amid city council deliberations on the 2023 budget.

Ghedotte, as chief financial officer, made a presentation on the budget to the board at a public meeting in early November. At that time, Capparelli told the board that he had wanted to be able to present the budget to them sooner and that he was unhappy with the timing of the presentation.

The council held its first and perhaps only public discussion of the budget on Monday. The discussion lasted about 20 minutes and focused on funding sidewalk repairs and weeding at major intersections in the city.

Capparelli told city council in a closed session at the end of its Monday meeting that he intended to make a personnel change in the finance department, Councilman Larry Hug said.

Hug said he spoke with Capparelli on Tuesday and the city manager confirmed the change had been made.

“I spoke with the city manager, who said he had spoken with Mr. Ghedotte and Mr. Sing and they both agreed with the change,” Hug said.

Sing previously served as Manhattan Village Administrator for nine years. Prior to that, he served as Manhattan’s CFO and previously served as Channahon’s Deputy CFO.

He grew up in Joliet, graduated from Joliet Central High School, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Lewis University in Romeoville.

Ghedotte came to Joliet as chief financial officer in 2014, when he left the same position in Wayne, Michigan.

By Anita Samojednik.

Increasingly, the demands placed on a company’s finance department are multifaceted and rapidly changing. Traditionally, financial services were auxiliary to leadership. They would provide the numbers and data that executives use to inform big business decisions, but they wouldn’t necessarily be involved in making those decisions.

Today, many senior finance executives view finance and accounting as critical to the long-term success of their business, with 38% investing in the finance and accounting team to enable greater efficiency, according to the 2022 Financial Maturity Study. Yet companies that place too much emphasis on efficiency without proper resources to then leverage it will hinder their own growth. Those who favor a flexible model that can drive both efficiency and growth will be in the best position to meet economic challenges and create long-term competitive advantages.

With recent developments in the availability of technology tools and an openness to non-traditional finance resource solutions, modern finance functions can and should increasingly take on a much more strategic role in driving this efficiency and growth.

Leverage automation to advance finance functions

New technologies and automated processes have increasingly relieved finance teams of repetitive manual tasks, freeing them to focus more on analysis and strategy to add increased value to the organization. For example, full-service bookkeeping and accounting platforms like QuickBooks or NetSuite automatically perform several operational functions such as accepting business payments, payroll, etc.

The rapid automation of bookkeeping and accounting procedures enables finance departments and accounting firms to shift resources from administrative tasks to more strategic activities. With large amounts of data in one place, analysts, controllers, and CFOs can now easily perform custom analysis, recognize patterns, and make more informed business decisions. New technologies are helping to augment finance roles, allowing them to be more analytical and bring strategic insight to the table due to the reduced need for people to focus solely on data collection.

This digital transformation means that future finance and accounting professionals will need more than just mastering financial concepts. According to McKinsey’s Finance 2030 article, finance professionals will also need computer programming and analytical skills to be able to easily navigate the complex tools of finance and artificial intelligence (AI). They will also need to be able to translate the results into plain English for stakeholders.

In the future, the financial industry may see more advanced technologies handling additional repetitive tasks. For example, optical character recognition (OCR), AI, and speech analytics technology could eventually allow billing transactions and communications to be managed by software. With these changes, financial services and accounting firms will have the opportunity to focus more on being key decision makers and strategic advisors to a business.

Automated technology powered by AI and machine learning can not only help remove the tedious tasks of financial work, but also make it more meaningful and engaging for current and potential employees.

Modernize finance and accounting teams with split talent solutions

Traditionally, financial services and accounting firms have been limited to hiring full-time employees within their geographic region. However, in recent years, many finance departments have shifted their approach to relying on highly skilled – or fractional – freelance professionals, focusing on specific skills rather than physical proximity.

Working with split talents offers many benefits for employers and employees, including:

• Flexible topic expertise can ease bandwidth constraints and help balance the work of full-time team members.
• The agility provided by hiring split talent allows companies to scale as needed.
• Specialized and on-demand split worker support allows accounting firms to expand service offerings based on dynamic needs.
• Independent finance professionals often have years of experience with leading companies that tackle the specific business problem a company may be trying to solve.
• Unlike a full-time employee, companies don’t have to hire the same professional for every project. Businesses are free to find the right person with the right skills, experience and qualifications for each specific business need.
• Businesses only have to pay a fraction of financial talent for the service provided. This can save the company money on recruitment, benefits, and overhead. It also provides the ability to work within the corporate budget for additional resources.

Companies that outsource finance talent remotely give themselves more freedom to hire the best person for the role that can deliver the most value, regardless of location or time zone. In this way, augmenting staff with independent finance professionals provides companies with a wider range of top talent to choose from.

To drive business efficiency and innovation, financial services must balance core finance functions and roles while adapting to new technologies and the future of work. This digital transformation requires companies to develop modern finance departments with cutting-edge technology complemented by flexible and focused expert teams that help businesses solve problems and drive growth.

=======

Anita Samojednik is CEO of Paro, an AI-powered marketplace disrupting the way companies access on-demand financial talent. Prior to joining Paro, Anita had over 15 years of leadership experience at Groupon, Ladders and Vonage, where she led bilateral marketplaces and multinational e-commerce businesses while leveraging cutting-edge machine learning techniques and of artificial intelligence. Anita is a member of the Columbia Business School Advisory Board, Deming Center.

A month-long search for a public information officer for Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli is nearing completion after commissioners agreed to a 50% pay rise before the position was even filled. .

The county’s salary board, which includes the three commissioners and comptroller Jeff Balzer, approved raising the salary of the newly created spokesperson position to just over $75,000. The position was originally posted at $50,000 this summer, but hasn’t been filled for months.

Ziccarelli said she made a hire for the job.

“I’m not ready to announce it yet,” Ziccarelli said. She said the higher salary was needed to attract a qualified person to take on the role of public information officer for her office. The employee will be loaned to other county departments when needed.

The spokesperson will be among the highest paid employees in the district attorney’s office. Ziccarelli, whose salary is set by state law, earns more than $196,000. Twelve other attorneys and detectives in the office of more than 50 workers earn more than $75,000, according to county payroll records.

County commissioners defended the pay rise.

“We also need to have a conversation with Nicole and her team to formally put this in place. It’s really to make sure she has the staff she needs for her office,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said.

Commissioner Doug Chew said the county will only use the public information officer when there is a “complex situation.”

Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher said she approved the higher salary because Ziccarelli’s office was under budget.

Since taking office in January, Ziccarelli has pushed for a public information officer to coordinate communications with the public and the media. So far, Ziccarelli has handled all media inquiries and has prohibited his staff from making public comments.

Other increases OK

The wage increase was part of a package of staff moves approved by the wage board this week, including increases given to members of the county’s finance department.

To facilitate the additional remuneration, the commissioners increased the working day of the five employees of the service by 30 minutes. This translates into salary increases of around $5,000 for some and a little less for others.

Chief Financial Officer Meghan McCandless will see a pay rise of $4,500 and earn an annual salary of around $86,500.

Commissioners said the increases were appropriate because of the additional work required to process and account for large grants, such as the $105 million the county received in covid relief assistance, more than $36 million in emergency funding. rental assistance and a $1.2 million election integrity grant. received from the state this year to pay for the operations of the electoral office.

The county is also set to receive $22 million over the next 17 years as part of a nationwide settlement of a lawsuit filed against the drugmakers responsible for the opioid epidemic.

Meanwhile, the department is responsible for overseeing the county’s $352 million budget and developing next year’s spending plan.

“All these grants are coming in and they’re doing extra work,” Kertes said. “This is the time when we have to inspire our employees to make sure they want to stay here and show them that we appreciate what they are doing.”

Thrasher said the salary increases will not increase county spending.

“We’re also eliminating a position for $45,000, so it’s costing us nothing,” Thrasher said.

Chew said he fully supports the salary increases.

“This board of commissioners has more grants than previous boards, even outside of covid-related awards,” Chew said. “As we try to fund important programs without using property tax revenue, grants become an important part of our revenue portfolio.”