Finance Committee

City of Rome FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING October 19, 2022 PRESENT: Committee Chairman Mark Cochran City Commissioner Bill Collins City Commissioner Jamie Doss Assistant City Manager Meredith Ulmer Finance Director Toni Rhinehart Assistant Finance Director Kraig Ingalsbe Recording Secretary Vicki Blair Guests: Joe Smith, City Clerk Chris Jenkins, Director of Public Works Kelley Parker, Assistant to City Manager Doug Walker, Public Relations David Crowder, Rome News-Tribune Absent: City Commissioner Randy Quick City Manager Sammy Rich Commissioner Cochran called the meeting to order and approved the minutes from the October 19th meeting by common consent. Ms. Rhinehart began a brief review of the September financial statements for the committee. GENERAL FUND: Title Tax Fee Revenues are consistent with last year and slightly above 2021. Intangible taxes are up and above budget. Local Option Sales Tax is up approximately $595,000 above last year. Overall business licenses and rental facilities are tracking above 2021. Police Fines of $605,635 are down from 2021 but just slightly under budget YTD. Red Speed revenue totals $172,136 YTD and has stayed very consistent around $20,000 - $25,000 per month. The new camera at Main Elementary should be up and going by the first of 2023. PILOT taxes from the Spires at Berry College in the amount of $20,000 was received in August. Housing Authority PILOT has not been received for 2022 at this time. Commissioner Collins opened a discussion regarding further explanation of PILOT and Ms. Rhinehart went into detail about properties that are included in this program. Committee Chairman Cochran and Commissioner Collins discussed other properties that might could be included in this program. Interest on investments is rising due to higher investment bank rates. Most departments have been able to stay within budget even with the increase in salaries; however, some of the larger departments and larger funds have seen a larger impact to their budgets mostly due to an increase in personnel and the rising cost of fuel. WATER FUND: Operating revenue has increased primarily due to the increase in water rates in preparation of large future expenditures. Discussion began regarding the increase in water usage and who our top water and sewer users are. Ms. Rhinehart stated there is a list of the top Water 1 and Sewer customers in the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report Statistical Section. She also explained that there are other interesting statistical facts found there as well. BUILDING INSPECTION: Revenues for 2022 are over YTD budget by over $350,000 and are above YTD 2021 by approximately $309,000. Expenditures are up from 2021 but well under budget. TRANSIT FUND: Ms. Rhinehart began a discussion about the General Fund contribution that will be needed in this department soon due to changes in federal awards. There was some discussion regarding other opportunities for transit services going forward. BID FUND: Revenues are consistent with last year. Event promotion expenditures are back up to a more normal level. TOURISM: Revenues are slightly above last year but slightly below budget. Expenditures are below budget as well. HOTEL/MOTEL TAX FUND: Revenues are up from last year and above YTD budget by almost $243,000. In other business, Committee Chairman Cochran discussed other possibilities for Red Speed revenues and how they could possibly be used to increase public safety in the school system. Ms. Rhinehart stated that this could be discussed during the budget process. Commissioner Cochran also mentioned to the committee his hope for the board to be more involved in the budget process for future budget preparations. Ms. Rhinehart stated she has been working with committees to ensure that more budget information is discussed at the committee meeting level. With no further discussion and no other items to review, the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully Submitted Vicki Blair 2