Agenda Packets - 1984/10/22 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1984 LONG TERM FINANCIAL PLAN Page Six . contingency reserves needed to maintain its financial inte- grity. In order to maintain its ability to provide needed public services it its residents the City needs to maintain the present level of financial planning and to expand long range planning efforts begun with the Water and Sewer System's Capitol improvements and Long Term Maintenance Plan. That type of planning should be undertaken for acqui- sition/replacement and maintenance of land, buildings and equipment. In order to have the ability to develop quality financial plans as well as to maintain the current level of participa- tion in financial reporting and audit preparation, the department requires a 1/2 time accounting clerk who would be a permanent part time employee. That individual would assist in day to day functions, thus, allowing full time staff greater opportunity to work on financial statement prepara- tion as well as financial planning activities. Presently this position is funded by a Minnesota Emergency Employment Development Act (MEED) grant that will expire in August 1984. This position is estimated to cost $7,030 on an annual basis. Presently the City's data processing needs for financial re- porting are being handled by the Ramsey County Consortium of Municipalities (RCCM). The RCCM is an organization which was established by a joint powers agreement with four other municipalities. A programmer has been hired and programs are run on a large main frame computer owned by Ramsey County. In the last few years advances in ccmputer technology combined with the development of an increasing number of new municipal accounting and financial reporting programs have made it practical for a City of our size to purchase a micro computer and programs for our data processing needs. Micro computer systems with programs to handle financial reporting, utility billings and payrolls are available for between $20,000 - $30,000. The Finance Department staff believes that a micro computer system could be a benefit to the City in many ways. Computers are more "user friendly" now; it no longer takes a computer programmer to run programs. Programs may be run at our convenience and not that of a computer operator; finan- cial reports could be processed on a more timely basis. Overall data processing costs could be the same or lower. Finance Department staff recommends that S30,000 be budgeted for a micro computer system that will serve the needs of the Finance Department. io