This is a letter I delivered to City Hall on July 28th. There are a couple of items in the budget that I need clarification on. The full 2006-07 Budget is now posted here so take a look and ask any questions you may have. I will post any response that I receive.
July 28, 2006
City of Rio Dell
Gordon Elton, Accounting Dept.
675 Wildwood Ave
Rio Dell, CA 95562
Dear Mr. Elton,
We recently paid for and received a copy of the 2006-07 budget recently approved by the City Council. I have a couple of questions regarding a few specific items that I would like clarification on.
On page 18 of the budget there is a break down of the City Manager expenses and what funds contribute to them. The General Fund only contributes 38% to this expense while the Water Fund pays 33.5% and the Sewer Fund contributes 20%. These percentages seem excessively high unless the City Manager spends 53.5% of their time administering the water/sewer issues. This would normally be the domain of the Public Works Dept., which rightfully receives 75% of its funding from these areas. The Accounting Dept. also receives 53.5% of its funding from the water and sewer funds. Please provide a similar worksheet from the past 5 years which shows the breakdown of funds which contribute to the City Manager and Accounting expenses. Is there a time study worksheet to document how much time is spent on the various fund items or what form of verification is used by the City?
Page 31 shows a breakdown of the General Government expenses. Item #5112 relates to legal expenses and shows the year-to-date total of $43,744 which is $34,744 over the budgeted amount of $9,000. Please provide a breakdown of what funds were utilized to cover this expense and how much money came from each fund. The 2006-07 budget allows for $20,000 for new legal expenses with $10,700 coming from the water and sewer funds combined. Is it projected that over 50% of the legal expenses will be attributed to water/sewer related issues?
Page 36 contains the breakdown of expenses related to the Building Dept. Item 5112 shows $1,500 in legal expenses for the Building Dept. Who is paid with that money and what issues is it related to? Who receives the $10,765 in full time salary for the Building Dept.? Are benefits paid to the independent contractor who serves as building inspector? Is the $50,000 cited for contract services the only amount of money paid to the building inspector? What is the total amount of compensation paid and from what funds does this come from? Legal expenses for the Building Dept. show on pg. 35 as $1,568 in 2004-05 and $916 year to date for 2005-06 despite no money having been budgeted for this. Who was paid that money and what was it related to? Copies of cancelled checks or the specific journal entry citing who received the money would be sufficient to verify this.
The information requested should be readily available to you. We will expect to receive a response from your office within 14 working days.
Thank You
Regards,
Sharon Wolff
3 Painter St.
Rio Dell, CA 95562