The Regional District of Thompson-Nicola will add a full-time manager to its finance department.

The board recently voted in favor of the new position at a cost of between $123,000 and $134,000 per year. It will be financed by provident funds in 2022 and by taxation in the future. At its February 24 meeting, the board heard that the new position was needed to build capacity in the finance department and for succession planning.

Amanda Ellison, TNRD’s people and engagement manager, who replaced former human resources manager Debbie Sell, said the capacity was needed to improve processes, strategy and engagement, as well as implementation of forensic audit recommendations.

BDO’s forensic audit of TNRD spending last year was the result of a year-long investigation into regional district spending under former CAO Sukh Gill.

The audit was completed in December and cost nearly $500,000. It was initially estimated between $50,000 and $75,000.

An entry-level position in the finance department was also previously approved.

Kamloops County Kathy Sinclair asked if the position was needed on an interim or long term basis. She also expressed concern about funding the post from taxes in the future.

Chief Executive Scott Hildebrand said Chief Financial Officer Doug Rae had been overworked and had been asking for help for several years, but never had the opportunity to make the request.

“I thought it was important that we did it this time,” Hildebrand said.

Com. Mike O’Reilly said the finance department managed its regular workload alongside a forensic audit.

“I wonder if it’s best to let the dust settle once this extra, extra, extra workload has been taken off the plate of Mr. Rae and the people in the finance department, and then chart the way forward.” , did he declare.

Ellison said current employee retention is at risk, as are unmet public expectations. While the council approved the position, Sinclair opposed it.

For the 30th consecutive year, the City of Brentwood Finance Department has received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association for the budget for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2021.

The award is the highest form of recognition in government budgeting. This is a significant achievement for the city’s finance department and the city manager’s office, both of which have invested a great deal of work in preparing the annual operating budget as well as the capital improvement program on six years.

To receive the award, Brentwood’s finance department released a budget document that met program criteria, including an operations guide, financial plan, policy document and an effective way to share information with the public. .

“Winning this award every year is truly a career highlight,” said Chief Financial Officer Karen Harper. “It is an honor to host and an honor to serve the citizens of Brentwood who trust us to be good stewards of taxpayers’ money.

“Thank you all for what you do every day. It’s definitely a team effort and it wouldn’t be possible without the help of each of you.

The Government Finance Officers Association is a major professional association serving the needs of nearly 19,000 local, state and provincial appointed and elected officials and other financial practitioners. The GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards program is the only national government budgeting awards program. Award recipients, such as Brentwood’s finance department, pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and set an excellent example for other governments in North America.

This may be music to the ears of many West Haven residents, as recent scandals have revealed that the state’s youngest town’s reliance on “old-fashioned” financial practices has left its money vulnerable to the operation.

“I believe in the statute, rules, policy and procedure and documenting these steps so that everyone is on the same page,” Jackson said.

Former chief financial officer Frank Cieplinski had abruptly quit his post the previous week, announced by a town hall statement appointing Jackson as the new chief executive. Mayor Nancy Rossi declined to discuss personnel and did not share the circumstances of Cieplinski’s departure, but the change came after the city came under increased scrutiny from its finance department due to its lack of clear, written policies and procedures that incorporate checks and balances.

Last October, former Democratic State Representative Michael DiMassa – who worked at City Hall as an administrative assistant and received City Council approval to serve as one of the delegates of Rossi to facilitate the spending of federal pandemic relief funding – was arrested and charged with wire fraud. DiMassa allegedly submitted forged invoices for more than $1 million to Cieplinski, directing funds to a shell company and at least three alleged associates. Cieplinski signed the documents, though federal investigators allege in court papers that department heads said they never authorized any work from DiMassa’s company.

Rossi said she thinks Jackson can move the city’s finance department forward.

“I have instructed the finance department to review existing internal controls and add necessary controls to ensure the theft of public funds never happens again,” she said.

Rossi said Jackson will review all of the city’s purchasing, budget and spending controls and “make any necessary improvements or changes to ensure the safety and protection of our funds.”

Bridgette Hoskie, chair of the city council’s finance committee, said she thought Jackson’s hiring was a “coup” for the city.

“It gives us the opportunity under Scott to build a team under him that I would trust will be fantastic,” she said. “I think he should have a helping hand working hand in hand with the new purchasing manager.”

Recently, the city hired a purchasing manager with the intention of adding three full-time employees to the purchasing department. Previously, the office had the equivalent of half an employee working there.

“He’s the expert, so I expect to get suggestions from him and hope he’s as transparent with the city council as his resume suggests,” she said.

Jackson’s qualifications have been a talking point around town – namely that he has so many.

Prior to working at West Haven City Hall, Jackson served as mayor of Hamden, commissioner of the state Department of Labor and its Department of Tax Services, undersecretary in the Office of Policy and Management, chief administrative officer of New Haven and, most recently, chief financial officer of Hamden.

“The man has worn a lot of hats,” resident Michael Hickey told the council, saying he had a problem with Jackson’s qualifications: that he has so many.

Allingtown Fire Marshal Frederick Brown, who has worked with Jackson in the past, said Jackson was always “extremely respected” in all of his positions and thought Jackson and Hoskie “would make a great team.” .

“The short answer to that question is that I am a government professional, and government professionals are rare,” Jackson told the board after the public remarks. “I’m very good at my job and I intend to bring those characteristics to West Haven.”

Hoskie said she doesn’t see Jackson’s work history as a problem.

“A lot of people take on a lot of different jobs and go where the opportunities may arise for career advancement,” she said. “People change jobs a lot, I don’t think that tells a story.”

Although Rossi said Jackson will spend his first week familiarizing himself with the finances and financial procedures of the city, the biggest task for him should soon arrive. Following the allegations against DiMassa, the Office of Policy and Management authorized a forensic audit of the city’s finances and procedures. According to Kimberly Kennison, OPM’s finance officer, auditing firm CohnReznick has concluded its field work and the audit report is expected shortly.

However, recent changes to the OPM may affect the State’s monitoring of the implementation of the recommendations in this report. The city has been under the oversight of the Municipal Accountability Review Board, a state initiative under OPM, since 2017. MARB maintains a limited level of control over city finances, providing additional funding to the city in exchange for approval authority over the city budget and union contracts.

OPM secretary Melissa McCaw quits March 11 to take up a municipal position following the emergence of an investigation into a controversial school building grant program formerly overseen by the OPM. West Haven is next due to meet MARB on March 10, a day before McCaw leaves.

“I will be attending the next MARB meeting as co-chair,” OPM Acting Director Jeff Beckham said in a statement. “This transition will be seamless and I expect council to continue its oversight of all affected municipalities within its jurisdiction, as it has done since these local governments requested our assistance.”

Rossi said she doesn’t expect any disruption to the city’s work with MARB and OPM.

“I could be wrong, but I don’t think there will be a big hiatus,” she said.

When the city first came under MARB control, Dannel Malloy was governor and Ben Barnes was OPM secretary. Rossi said the city had already seen a change in administration under MARB control, and she would not expect the change to be as big as a change under a new governor.

Hoskie said that if anything were to change about MARB under a new OPM secretary, she hoped the tone of some of its more outspoken members would become more productive and polite.

“I hope we can achieve a level of professionalism without taking personal photos,” she said.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com

The state government has banned the slaughter of cattle ignoring red flags raised by the Ministry of Finance that it would entail heavy expenditure, documents show.

Karnataka’s Livestock Preservation and Slaughter Prevention Act was enacted early last year, imposing a blanket ban on the slaughter of livestock in the state, requiring farmers to take care of cows even after they become sterile or simply abandon them. The only authorized slaughter is that of terminally ill cattle and buffalo over the age of 13.

Stray cattle have become a major probing problem in Uttar Pradesh, which has a strict law similar to Karnataka.

A goshala is provided in each district. They are in various stages of completion.

In December 2020, the Ministry of Finance asked the government to reconsider its decision to apply the law. “We cannot accept this kind of expense when we are struggling to make ends meet,” he said, according to the Cabinet memo seen by DH.

“In the next two years we expect a contraction in the size of the budget and therefore Cabinet’s decision may be put on hold reconsidering the matter.”

Karnataka will need Rs 5,240.18 crore over four years to implement the law, the finance department has said.

This includes the cost of maintaining cattle at Rs 70 per head of cattle per day, setting up goshalas and compensating for the reduction of 27,250 tons of beef production.

In a response he tabled during the recent legislative session, Livestock Minister Prabhu Chauhan said the process of opening goshalas in each of the 30 districts was underway.

“So far, bhumi puja (for construction to begin) has been carried out in Tumakuru, Chikballapur, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru, Haveri, Koppal, Vijayapura, Belagavi and Kodagu districts,” he said.

The government has released Rs 36-53.50 lakh to each of the 30 districts for setting up goshalas. According to the finance department, Karnataka will need 2,417 goshalas – one for every 200 head of cattle with Rs 50 lakh for basic infrastructure – costing Rs 1,208.50 crore, he said.

The government, in the Cabinet memorandum, justified the new law in that any delay in its implementation would result in the slaughter of 662 cattle per day.

He also said the new law will prevent farmer suicides. Instead of slaughtering “mule” oxen, old cows and sick cattle, farmers can obtain “a cheap source of fertilizer, energy, rural products, health and hygiene” thanks to ” the power of bulls, cow dung and urine,” the note read.

Trustees voted to add a new executive position in the Finance Department of the Regional District of Thompson-Nicola.

Amanda Ellison, TNRD’s managing director of people and engagement, presented to the board on Thursday, saying the request stemmed from recent discussions about departmental structure and capacity.

“The finance department supports many key strategic priorities and initiatives in TNRD, and much of that has grown over the past few years,” Ellison said.

“We see the finance department continuing to strain its current capacity, and it has a lot of work ahead of it to do strategic work, process improvement work, public engagement work, as well as some of the work related to the forensic check.

Ellison said the finance department received funding for an entry-level support position in the fall, which eased pressure on support staff.

“We continue to believe it is a priority to be able to strengthen our leadership team to help with some of the key strategic policy and process improvement work, which will enable the team to better meet the increasing demands for its work,” Ellison said. .

A staff report to the board indicates that the person in this position will assist the CFO with administrative requirements and work to implement process improvements within the department.

The report says the growth of TNRD services has strained the capacity of the finance team.

In addition, the report indicates that 37 of the 65 recommendations made in BDO Canada’s forensic audit will require the work of the finance department.

According to the TNRD, the position will cost between $123,000 and $134,000 per year. The money can be taken from the provident funds in 2022, but staff said that in future years funding will come from increased property taxes.

“Based on the current 2022 tax base, this equates to approximately $1.57 in additional tax per residential property,” the staff report says.

Kathy Sinclair, director of TNRD and a Kamloops city councillor, said she was confident there was a lot of action stemming from the forensic audit. She asks if staff have researched the structure of other Regional Districts.

Sinclair also asked staff if the district had considered whether the forensic audit recommendations could be short-term actions and not long-term ones.

“I’m struggling with this, just because it’s a new creation that will eventually be covered by taxes, and because of recent events, I just don’t know the time is right,” Sinclair said.

Ellison said staff had searched other regional districts.

She said the position was important to fill.

“Given succession planning, this position becomes critical to the sustainability of our organization,” Ellison said.

“I think that goes to some of your second questions, Dir. Sinclair, around the short term, the long term. That might be something that we continue to assess in terms of the structure of the department.

General Manager Scott Hildebrand said succession planning was the most important reason they were considering adding another management position.

“We only have one manager in the finance department who is Doug [Rae]. I can tell you he’s overworked and overloaded with some of the workload that’s presented to him and that’s something we’ve been looking at for some time,” Hildebrand said.

The board of directors voted almost unanimously to approve the new position. Sinclair opposed it.

As the Thompson-Nicola Regional District seeks to implement recommendations from its recent forensic audit, it is looking to hire an additional leadership position for its finance department.

The new position would cost between $123,000 and $134,000 per year and would be funded by contingency the first year and by taxes in subsequent years.

A report to the Regional District Board of Directors says the permanent leadership position would play a ‘key role’ in supporting CFO Doug Rae, following a review that determined ‘the need to develop further capabilities to support financial policy, engagement and procedures within the Finance Department.”

The report notes TNRD’s approval of 65 recommendations set out in BDO Canada’s forensic audit, 37 of which require work by the finance department.

The forensic audit was ordered by counsel following a KTW investigation into regional district spending under former CAO Sukh Gill.

“This new position will be at additional cost, but will be of great benefit in supporting development and reporting to ensure financial prudence within TNRD,” the report said.

The board will vote on the new position at its meeting on Thursday (February 24).

Days after the court ordered to garnish the District Education Officer’s (DEO) salary for non-payment of 9% interest on the delay in releasing retirement funds to a former primary education block, the finance department released the long-simmering bills on Thursday.

The move comes a day before the DEO is due to appear in a local court after being summoned to appear in person and having her wages garnished by the court.

The DEO is still due in court on February 18.

“After completing the formalities, block officials will send the funds to the local treasury office who will then deposit the pension funds directly into the applicant’s account within the next two days,” a local education department official said. .

HT reported on Thursday that Harsimranjit Singh Court, Civil Judge (Main Division), Ludhiana, summoned the DEO on February 18 to explain why contempt proceedings should not be brought against her, since despite the fact that the DEO has submitted an undertaking dated December 15, 2021, the department has not released benefits.

The wage garnishment order was issued against the plea presented by the applicant’s lawyer, Rajwinder Kaur, who declared that the amount had not been cleared by the service. Meanwhile, Bhagwant Singh, lawyer for judgment debtors, said the bill submitted to Treasury could not be approved due to some objections.

Education department officials had blamed the finance department for the delay.

The case

Rajwant Kaur retired from the local Department of Education in 2017 as BPEO. According to her petition, the department delayed the release of her retirement benefits and funds, following which she demanded interest for the same.

Last year, the court ordered the Department of Education to pay him 9% interest. After the department failed to comply with the orders, the court on October 13, 2021 issued a foreclosure warrant to the Department of Education.

On October 29, 2021, counsel for the respondents filed an affidavit with the court agreeing to pay interest to the plaintiff. The department asked for more time to make the payment, but it did not.

URBANA, Ill. (WAND) – The City of Urbana received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association for its budget.

The award “reflects the commitment of the governing body and staff to the highest principles of government budgeting”. In order to earn the budget award, the entity had to meet nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation.

These guidelines assess the extent to which an entity’s budget is used to:

· a policy document

· a financial plan

· an operations guide

· a communication device

Budget documents must be deemed “competent” in all four categories and all fourteen mandatory criteria within those categories to receive the award.

When a Distinguished Budget Presentation Award is presented to an entity, a certificate of recognition for the budget presentation is also presented to the person(s) or department designated as primarily responsible for obtaining the award. This was presented to the City of Urbana Finance Department.

“The City wants to assure residents that we are working hard to support the community using best practices. This award reflects our commitment to better serve the community and demonstrates the dedication and hard work of our team. We would like to thank all city departments for their contributions and the important roles they play in our budget process,” said Alyana Robinson, City of Urbana Financial Analyst.

There are more than 1,700 participants in the budget scholarship program.

Copyright 2022. BAGUETTE TV. All rights reserved.

There is an old axiom that “numbers don’t lie”. When these numbers are handled by Ballwin’s finance department, they often lead to things that truly transcend money. This was quite evident at the February 14 meeting of the Ballwin Board of Aldermen.

For the seventh consecutive year, the search for figures on the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (ACFR) led Ballwin to land the award known as the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. In an email response, finance manager Denise Keller said this was an audit report for the year ending December 31, 2020.

City Administrator Eric Sterman was quick to pay tribute to Keller and his staff.

“As you may remember, we get a certificate of achievement for the budget every year (six in a row) as well,” Sterman said. “Few cities get these awards, and fewer actually get them both. I just wanted to acknowledge the hard work of Denise and her team, and not just provide the basic set of budget numbers and the basic set of financial reports. It’s a really rigorous process that requires a wealth of information for our budget book. It takes a lot of time and effort and provides a lot of valuable information to the public that many cities don’t. Congratulations to our finance staff! »

While the ACFR report is only 80 pages, that of the budget report peaks at almost 200 pages. This achievement is known as the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award. Keller said both are distributed by the International Government Finance Officers Association.

“The booklet contains financial statements for all of the city’s accounting funds presented in three different formats, footnotes to the statements, management’s discussion and analysis, statistical data presented over 10 years, and a letter of d ‘introduction,” Keller explained.

She added that there are detailed criteria that must be met and that the documents are peer reviewed outside of Missouri.

Winning the award is a validation of the quality of the report. Beyond that, reviewers also submit feedback with recommendations for improvements that Keller says helps her and her staff improve each year.