For the first time in 18 months, Troy’s city council received a quarterly financial report.
In October, Mayor Carmella Mantello’s administration shared financial information with the council during the annual budget presentation. But that report fell short of what some councilors were hoping to receive after the city has been mired in financial cloudiness for years.
Now, with a quarterly financial report delivered last month by the accounting firm BST & Co., Mantello says the city has come a long way toward financial transparency.
“When we took office, the books weren't closed. Requisitions not done from 2023, March was the last requisitions were done. Long story short, fast forward, BST & Co. has really turned things around. We filed our AFR on time this year, the 2023 audit complete,” Mantello said. “The Comptroller's office has that and the 2024 is underway.”
The city has been working with BST while it catches up on incomplete bookkeeping by previous comptrollers. In May, the city hired its third full-time comptroller in 18 months. Mantello, a Republican, says the city will transition away from BST as Comptroller Michael McNeff comes up to speed.
Still, even as BST presented a Q1 report to the council late last month – a report that shows the city’s finances are generally in a strong position – some questions remain.
Specifically, Democratic leaders say they want more information on salary expenditures and said they are hoping future reports offer more detail.
Brendan Kennedy, of BST, says the city has used more than 40% of its staff overtime budget for the year in Q1 alone, which bears watching.
“There'll be accounts during the year that we have to probably make some kind of budget transfer, budget modification for, but that's obviously one to keep an eye on. Nothing else really caught my eye,” Kennedy said.
Mayor Mantello attributed the high first-quarter salary expenditures to the city’s lack of firefighters, which requires the department to pay overtime to supply adequate emergency response.
Garbage fees present another possible point of contention in the city’s finances.
Controversially, the city’s once-temporary garbage fee, which Mantello has vowed to eliminate, remains. The now $254-per-unit fee was introduced in 2017 as a $160 temporary measure. Mantello says she’s searching for a viable way to replace the revenue if the fee went away. She says even with the cost in place, the city has seen an uptick in trash-collection customers.
“The crews are constantly ensuring that our service meets or even crushes the private sector, but at the same time, they're providing the service for a cheaper cost,” Mantello said. “So, we'll continue in house. Obviously, the budget will include that item, and we're trying to think out of the box.”
Kennedy says some amount of uncertainty with a first-quarter report make sense as finances can take the whole year to settle.
“When you look at these quarterly reports, you know, you want to almost annualize, and that percent achieved is going to move so and who knows,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy says some revenue values, such as sales tax allocated through the county, will lag because of differing collection periods.
Kennedy ended his presentation by listing his own homework assignments that he has to complete to ensure financials stay on track.
“The debt roll forward, that that's the issue with those transfers. I got it. I got to get that done. And in fact, I might as well just do it for the year, so that we have it and we can make sure those entries in the later quarters are posted correctly,” Kennedy said.
The second quarter financial report is expected to be delivered in August.
