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MINUTES OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE December 14, 2020 Meeting held virtually Present: Councilmembers Bullock, Litten, Neff Also Present: Lakewood Municipal Court Judge Carroll, Clerk of Court Christina McCallum, Fire Chief Dunphy, Finance Director Rancatore, Assistant Finance Director Schuster, Budget Manager Jessica Eddy, Public Works Director Ducu, Planning Director Leininger, Law Director Corrigan, Mayor George, Councilmembers O'Malley & Rader, Clerk Bach taking minutes Call to Order: 6:00 p.m. Finance Department Finance Director Peter Rancatore and his staff delivered the attached presentation which is summarized here: Director Rancatore briefly described the Finance Committee's functions, staff, and staffing structure. Next, he discussed the comprehensive annual financial report(CAFR), which is the annual audited financial statement of the City. Each year, the CAFR is submitted to and evaluated by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). The City has a longstanding tradition of receiving a Certificate of Excellence from the GFOA. The City also received the 2019 Auditor of the State Award with Distinction. Only 4% of governments receive this award and those that do are smaller cities than Lakewood. These awards reflect the good financial practices of the City. In response to questions, Director Rancatore explained the audit timeline. The previous year's audit is usually submitted by June 30''. Council is always notified, and the materials are posted online as well. Councilmember Litten inquired as to why the Finance Department is experiencing a decrease in spending on fringe benefits. Director Rancatore explained that the City is using part of the hospitalization fund balance to cover these benefits in order to right-size the fund balance in the hospitalization fund. Budget Manager Jessica Eddy reviewed the different divisions within the Department including Income Tax, Vital Statistics and Utility Billing. She explained that income tax is the City's largest source of revenue and showed those revenues collected over the past ten years. She highlighted the fact that the City has not increased its tax rate since 1981. Given the importance of income tax collection and the fact that the City collects its own income tax, the division worked hard to stay open with precautions in place. Currently,the division is operating on two rotating shifts. She noted that this was the first year that residents could both file and pay their income tax online. There was a jump in the number of residents who e-filed this year from previous years. She showed the trends in the number of tax returns filed and processed by the division. As of 12/2 the division had processed 26,057 returns. 1