Finance Committee Agenda and Packet 2025 02 20

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City Council Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 21, 2024 Page 2of7 Councilmember Kern expressed appreciation for the work staff did on this presentation. She asked about the federal government purchasing rules and whether it's not part of the standard operation policy. Ryder it will be codified in our updated purchasing policy. Councilmember Kern suggested using federal purchasing policies for all purchasing. Councilmember Hamlington asked about the increase to the allowable purchase amount on the Pcard to $10,000 and the softening of the language related to reimbursing the city for paid tax on a P-card purchase. The Finance Director responded that these are usually quite small purchases, and staff is diligent in attempting to get taxes removed. At times, this requires a lot of time and effort for usually very small amounts. Councilmember Hamlington commented that with larger purchasing limits it is possible for the amount of taxes paid to increase and asked if the city will be able to request reimbursement for taxes paid with the change in the language. The Director of Finance assured the committee if the amount is of materiality the city will pursue reimbursement. Councilmember Hamlington asked about lost or stolen purchasing cards and what the process is for identifying frequent offenders. The Director of Finance responded that the finance department tracks lost/stolen cards. Councilmember Hoefner commented that the proposed changes make a lot of sense and asked that the auditors be asked to take a closer look at this to provide feedback on whether the controls we have in place for anti -fraud safeguards are sufficient. The Director of Finance responded that there are no proposed changes to internal controls with this policy update and controls are reviewed annually by our auditors. The auditors will be informed of any policy changes. Councilmember Kern agreed with Councilmember Hamlington's comments regarding sales tax. She asked if the language could contain a dollar amount for purchases where staff must reimburse taxes paid. The Director of Finance suggested that the proposed language provides enough leverage to require reimbursement by the employee, saying also that staff would be happy adding a dollar amount if council wanted it included in the policy updates. Councilmember Hoefner commented that he would be fine with additional language proposed by Councilmember Kern; however, he suggested that the proposed language gives provides sufficient leverage as written. He suggested language similar to, "if the amount of sales tax exceeds a certain amount, the city will make all reasonable efforts to obtain a refund." Councilmember Kern agreed with Councilmember Hoefner's suggestion. Councilmember Hamlington also agreed with the suggested language. The Director of Finance asked the committee for a dollar range to include in the policy. Councilmember Kern suggested that $100 in taxes seems a reasonable amount to seek reimbursement as the city wouldn't want to have a lot of instances where we are paying taxes we shouldn't be. Councilmember Hoefner agreed that $100 is a good starting point, suggesting staff to give thought to how much an average staff hour is worth and how many staff hours it can take to track down reimbursement for taxes paid to determine the dollar amount to include in the proposed changes brought to Council. Public Comments: None. Preliminary 2025 Work Plan Discussion: 4/60