Creation of Assistant Director of Finance and Budget PositionCity of Dubuque
City Council Meeting
Consent Items # 05.
Copyrighted
July 18, 2022
ITEM TITLE: Creation of Assistant Director of Finance and Budget Position
SUMMARY: City Manager recommending approval to add a second full-time Assistant
Director of Finance and Budget position.
SUGGESTED Suggested Disposition: Receive and File; Approve
DISPOSITION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Type
MVM Memo City Manager Memo
Staff Memo Staff Memo
THE C
DUUB-.'&-FE
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Additional Assistant Director of Finance and Budget Position
DATE: July 8, 2022
Dubuque
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2007-2012.2013
2017*2019
Director of Finance and Budget Jennifer Larson is recommending approval to add a
second full-time Assistant Director of Finance and Budget position. This position would
increase the Finance and Budget personnel complement by 1.00 full-time equivalent.
The addition of an Assistant Director of Finance and Budget position at GE-41 is
estimated to cost $140,752 in FY23. The cost would be funded by FY22 & FY23
Finance and Budget Department vacancy savings.
The addition of an Assistant Director of Finance and Budget would provide a high-level
management position that could take some of the workload from the Director of Finance
and Budget, Assistant Director of Finance, Purchasing and Risk Manager, and Utility
Billing Supervisor. This position would help with supervising Finance and Budget staff,
providing the much -needed employee support. In addition, the skill set would allow for
the position to assist with audit, financial statement preparation, budget preparation
oversight, assistance with purchasing and risk management, and assistance with
accounting and utility billing processes as needed.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
Michael C. Van Milligen
MCVM/jml
Attachment
CC' Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney
Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager
Shelley Stickfort, Human Resources Director
Cassie Ross, Assistant Director of Finance
THE COF
DtUB E
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: Michael Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Jennifer Larson, Director of Finance and Budget
SUBJECT: Additional Assistant Director of Finance and Budget Position
DATE: July 8, 2022
INTRODUCTION
Dubuque
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2007-2012.2013
2017*2019
This purpose of this memo is to recommend approval of a second Assistant Director of
Finance and Budget position.
BACKGROUND
The Finance and Budget departments were consolidated in March 2019. Since that time, there
has been significant and ongoing change. The current personnel complement of the Finance
Department is 20.51 full-time equivalents which is broken down into the following positions:
Accounting:
Type
FTE
Director of Finance and Budget
Full -Time
1.00
Assistant Director of Finance
Full -Time
1.00
Purchasing and Risk Manager
Full -Time
1.00
Confidential Account Clerk
Full -Time
1.00
Accountants
Full -Time
2.00
Senior Payroll Accountant
Full -Time
1.00
Budget/Financial Accounting Analysts
Full -Time
2.00
Accounting Interns
Seasonal
1.00
Budget:
Budget/Financial Accounting Analysts
Full -Time
2.00
Utility Billing:
Utility Billing Supervisor
Full -Time
1.00
Account Clerk I
Full -Time
3.00
Cashier
Full -Time
4.00
Utility Billing Intern
Seasonal
0.51
Total Full -Time Equivalents
20.51
DISCUSSION
Prior to consolidation of the Budget and Finance Departments, there was a Budget Director
(1.0 FTE), full-time Finance Director (1.0 FTE), full-time Assistant Finance Director (1.0
FTE), full-time Utility Billing Supervisor (1.0 FTE) and full-time Purchasing and Risk
Manager (1.0 FTE), or a total of 5.0 FTE budget and finance management staff to oversee
the budget and finance functions of the City of Dubuque.
At the time of the consolidation, it was originally planned to have a full-time Budget
Manager (1.0 FTE) and full-time Finance Manager (1.0) position to help oversee the
operations of the Finance and Budget department. However, it was determined best at the
time to eliminate the full-time Budget Manager position and replace it with a lower -level
Budget/Financial Accounting Analyst position and change the Finance Manager position
back to an Assistant Director of Finance position.
The current management staff of the Finance and Budget department consists of Director
of Finance and Budget (1.0 FTE), Assistant Director of Finance (1.0 FTE), Purchasing and
Risk Manager (1.0 FTE) and Utility Billing Supervisor (1.0 FTE), or a total of 4.0 FTE
management staff to oversee the budget and finance functions of the City of Dubuque.
This is one less management position than what was in place prior to the consolidation of
the Budget and Finance departments.
The amount of workload, projects, and complexity of issues in the Finance and Budget
department have intensified over the past two years. This has led to Finance and Budget
management staff working increased hours year-round and not being able to take
vacation. It is best practice that finance employees, especially management staff, take a
minimum of one week's vacation each year. The weekly hours worked by management
staff averages between 60-80 hours per week depending on impending deadlines. The
increased hours result in management staff not having a work/life balance and a high risk
of employee turnover.
The increased workload/ projects, and complex issues are not temporary and will be
ongoing. The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) financial system implementation project
started in September 2019. Although the Tyler Munis Finance/Budget module went live on
July 1, 2022, ongoing support is needed for departments as well as finance and budget
staff. The budget process has not been designed in the new system yet and departments
will need to be trained on how the new process works. Other modules of the Tyler Munis
system are being implemented in different phases. The Utility Billing module has started
implementation with a go live date of January 2023. The Human Resources module and
Executime module implementation is underway and is anticipated to go live Fall 2023.
Asset Maintenance module implementation will start during FY23.
Finance and Budget management staff will be looking at implementing a new purchasing
card provider that works well with the new system. In addition, a request for proposal will
be developed for investment portfolio and debt management software that will integrate
with the Tyler Munis software.
The City approved a five-year audit contract with public accounting firm FORVIS. This is
the first time the city has switched auditors and there will be increased workload providing
the new auditors information related to internal controls and procedures.
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The number of new Government Accounting Standard Board statements being issued that
the City must adopt in its financial statements is at an all-time high. Finance management
staff are currently working on Statement Number 87, Leases, which is effective for Fiscal
Year 2022. GASB 87 requires staff to review all leases, document them and record the
leases in special software so that required financial disclosures on the leases can be
written. There are now 101 Government Accounting Standard Board statements that have
been issued, which results in management staff needing to review statements 88-101 and
the impact to the financials and develop a plan for implementation.
The Purchasing and Risk Manager is Chair of the City's Safety Committee and is active in
launching a full-scale safety program at the City of Dubuque. However, it has been difficult
to allocate the necessary time to the safety program because this position is also heavily
involved in purchasing, purchasing cards, risk management including insurance renewals
and claims, contracts and bids, and overall logistics of the department.
Finance and budget management would like to be able to focus on staff development and
supervisory duties, however the amount of workload makes it very difficult to allow for that
focus. It is a goal of management staff to do monthly check -in meetings with staff. In
addition, planning for staff training, staff meetings, and being available for staff for
questions has not been possible with the amount of workload being experienced.
The addition of an Assistant Director of Finance and Budget would provide a high-level
management position that could take some of the workload from the Director of Finance
and Budget, Assistant Director of Finance, Purchasing and Risk Manager, and Utility Billing
Supervisor. This position would help with supervising Finance and Budget staff, providing
the much -needed employee support. In addition, the skill set would allow for the position to
assist with audit, financial statement preparation, budget preparation oversight, assistance
with purchasing and risk management, and assistance with accounting and utility billing
processes as needed.
BUDGETIMPACT
The addition of an Assistant Director of Finance and Budget position at GE-41 is estimated to
cost $140,752 in FY23. The cost would be funded by FY22 & FY23 Finance and Budget
Department vacancy savings.
RECOMMENDATION
I respectfully request approval of an additional Assistant Director of Finance and Budget
position at GE-41 which would increase the Finance and Budget personnel complement by
1.00 full-time equivalent. This position would be posted upon approval.
JML
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