M Onthly a Dm Inistrative R Eports
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OOCCTTOOBBEERR 22001100 FINANCE & BUDGET ASSESSING FINANCIAL SERVICES PURCHASING/RISK MANAGEMENT TREASURY CITY CLERK FACILITIES MAINTENANCE HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SERVICES PUBLIC SERVICES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLANNING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES CODE ENFORCEMENT BUILDING SERVICES COMMUNITY RELATIONS FIRE LIBRARY PARKS & RECREATION POLICE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PUBLIC WORKS Monthly Administrative Reports Administrative Monthly ENGINEERING Summary of Significant Programs, Projects, and/or Events Performed by City Departments CITY ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT October 2010 FINANCE & BUDGET DIVISION B. Baker, Finance & Budget Director FINANCE & BUDGET Finance & Budget Issues We have reviewed a draft copy of the City’s 2009/10 fiscal year Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) and assisted Financial Services in writing the management analysis and the accompanying transmittal letters. We will be preparing an Executive Summary for the audit draft meeting with the City Manager to be held in November. We have also begun work on a PowerPoint presentation to present the audit and to review the City’s overall financial performance this past fiscal year and the continued cost saving efforts. The audit will be presented at one of the City Council meetings in December. We wrote an article for the Winter City Magazine highlighting the continued revenue declines in the City and the ongoing efforts to reduce expenditures. We illustrated how well the City compares to our comparable Michigan cities in terms of taxes, water & sewer bills, debt levels, and the number of full-time employees. We produced the 2010/11 Quarterly Budget Report and monitored and reviewed first quarter revenues through the revenue monitoring report. Expenditures are tracking slightly lower than budgeted due to several personnel vacancies. Revenues are tracking near budget targets with the exception of tax revenues due to Ford’s $1.25 million underpayment. We have begun work on the first amendment to the Appropriations Ordinance, which is scheduled for the December City Council meeting. We prepared a PowerPoint presentation to update employees on the City’s financial condition. This information will be presented to employee labor groups at a November 4th Labor Management meeting. 2011/12 Capital Budget Capital Budget manuals for the 2011/12 fiscal year were distributed to all offices. Capital requests were due to this office by October 20. We have begun to review these requests in advance of the four Capital Coordinating Unit (CCU) meetings that have been scheduled in November and the first part of December. We have produced an updated Capital Improvements schedule and sent this schedule to City Development to use in their capital project planning for the 2011/12 fiscal year. Performance Reporting We have finished compiling information and preparing the graphs for the City’s Calendar/Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR). This information has been given to the City’s graphic artist. We have also updated the benchmark information first prepared two years ago as to how the City compares financially and demographically to the other top 10 Michigan cities by population. This information will be included in the 2011 City Calendar. We have completed the ICMA data verification and cleaning process on the 2010 data submitted in September as part of our participation in the Performance Measurement program. Cost Analysis & Other Projects We will be sending out the proposed 2011/12 fiscal year rate and fee information to all applicable offices as part of our annual readjustment of rates and fees based on an inflationary 2% cost increase. We have been participating in numerous meetings with Ford and Chrysler regarding the use of the new personal property tax tables with the intent to reduce the tax loss to the City. We prepared a financial impact statement resulting from the new Chrysler tax abatements. Meetings The Director attended meetings regarding: General Employees Retirement Board, Investment Committee, MGFOA Legislative Committee, Ford Tax Appeals, Chrysler Tax Abatements, and Labor Strategy. ASSESSING Assessing Issues The City Assessor attended workgroup meetings in Detroit and Dearborn with local Assessors or with Assessors and representatives of the Qualified Automobile Manufacturers to discuss personal property depreciation rates on October 7, 11, 15, 19, 20, 22, 28 and 29. The City Assessor reviewed the Accuval Appraisal Study and calculated the property tax loss impact of a number of suggested changes to the qualified automotive depreciation tables. The City Assessor reviewed the annual commercial property shopping center and commercial retail studies and emailed the preliminary results to City Administration. The City Assessor reviewed the following Site Plan Applications during October 2010: SPR-3277, 3280, 3282, 3285 & 3286 The City Assessor reviewed the following Split Applications during October 2010: SPL-0713 Industrial Facilities Tax Exemption Certificate (IFEC) Issues The City Assessor prepared IFEC Staff Reports, Agenda Statements, and City Council backup information packets and gave public presentations on October 19 for the Acra Grinding Company located at 40597 Brentwood Drive and Norbert Industries at 37950 Commerce Dr. The City Assessor gave presentations for a Ford Motor Company personal property tax abatement application at 41111 Van Dyke and for a personal property tax exemption application at 39000 Mound Road. He also revised the IFEC Letter of Agreement for the tax abatement. The City Assessor prepared the Staff Report, Agenda Statement and City Council backup information for a real property tax abatement and a personal property exemption application filed by the Chrysler Group LLC at their Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP) located at 38111 Van Dyke. The Assessor met with Chrysler engineers at their headquarters to discuss the investments at SHAP for the November 3rd IFEC Public Hearings and prepared a letter of agreement for both applications and the material for the two public hearing presentations. Michigan Tax Tribunal (MTT) & State Tax Commission (STC) Issues The City Assessor reviewed information for the Crown Enterprises appeal and reviewed the settlement offer response for the Kimberly Club and Sterling Troy Apartment Complexes. The City Assessor reviewed assessing file information and made written offers to settle the pending Walgreens, Philibosian, Grillo Properties, and Maplecrest Professional Building appeals. The City Assessor worked on Petition Answers for all of the 2010 personal property appeals filed by the Chrysler Group LLC and the Ford Motor Company at four locations in the City. The City Assessor processed 110 property classification appeals filed against the City and a number of property owners by the Michigan Department of Treasury. The City Assessor drafted a form response letter and Petition Answer for the real property classification appeals. The City Assessor and Appraiser III (Roxanne Reeder) walked through the industrial facility located at 7000 15 Mile relating to an ongoing assessment appeal. Roxanne Reeder reviewed Ford’s and Chrysler’s 2010 personal property reports and calculated the percentage of assets in one of the four new asset reporting categories, prepared reports detailing the age distribution of existing automotive equipment assets, and prepared reports on both companies’ assets using new reporting tables for the City Assessor. Appraiser III (Dawn Peterson) prepared one respondent form, input two MTT consent judgments, and input one STC decision along with preparing new taxable value spreadsheets. Appraiser III (Jerry Jackson) researched the file information for the 2009 Home Depot Appeal and provided value information and a value recommendation to the City Assessor. Appraisal Staff Issues Roxanne Reeder wrote letters to two businesses regarding issues relating to their personal property statements. She also processed one 2010 personal property statement that was received late and scanned those statements into the BS&A Equalizer system. She also scanned personal property statements, shredded old personal property statements and out of business (OOB) files, prepared two December Board of Review (BOR) personal property changes and worked on the Walgreens Drug Store and Cadillac Products MTT appeals. Internal Personal Property Audit Correspondence Detail Sent L-4154’s to businesses to sign: 1 Sent L-4154’s with concurrence to the State Tax Commission: 1 Processed STC Orders: 1 Dawn Peterson pulled 25 warranty deeds from the Macomb County website and input, scanned and attached them. She also created one new parcel for 2011, made folders, apportioned values, and input the parcels into the Equalizer system. She also scanned and attached 54 Central Air Conditioning Permits. She also processed, scanned and attached 78 returned foreclosure real property statements and 52 returned arm’s length statements. She also digitally sketched 106 houses and entered deed transactions for the Equalization studies, input the 2011 CPI (1.7%) into the equalizer system, input 15 poverty exemption value reversals, updated vacant land maps and completed the 2nd six months of the residential sales study. Jerry Jackson prepared four commercial or commercial sales summary sheets, prepared four Real Property Statements, and reviewed eight project developer blue prints to retain information for the Assessing files. He also reviewed thirty commercial or industrial permits and appraised two new buildings,