The Finance Support Services Department provides for the effective, lawful, and efficient management of the Town’s financial matters. Chief areas of responsibility include: 1) departmental administration, 2) accounting, 3) payroll and risk management, 4) budgeting, 5) financial reporting, 6) banking, 7) treasury management, 8) debt management, 9) fixed asset management, 10) internal support, 11) purchasing and contracts managements, and 12) pension plan oversight. Each of these areas requires their own (often unique) reporting and documentation procedures.
Administration entails addressing the functions typical of managing a department: personnel issues, schedule development, policy development, co-ordination with internal and external agencies, and ensuring appropriate compliance with contract and legal requirements.
Accounting functions include, but are not necessarily limited to: accounts payable, accounts receivable, pension, calculating interest, compliance with generally accepted accounting principles, compliance with Federal, State, and Town laws and ordinances, cash management, deposits, and payroll functions.
Payroll and Risk Management includes, but is not necessarily limited to: safety and risk management assessments, risk related policy development and recommendations, ensuring compliance with Federal Internal Revenue Service requirements as well as Fair Labor Standards and other Federal, State and local requirements, development, reviewing and processing hours and benefit calculations for payroll purposes, and ensuring fund transfers and availability for the twenty-six (26) regular payrolls each year, calculating retroactive payments and other pay and benefits adjustments as part of the regular cycle or special payrolls.
Budgeting responsibilities include: development, revision, publication, managing the adoption process, implementation, monitoring the budget throughout the year, and Capital Improvement Plan coordination.
Banking Relations includes, but is not necessarily limited to; ensuring transfers are completed, maintaining a professional working relationship with bank officials, bank account reconciliation, interest allocations and the like.
Treasury Management responsibilities minimally include: identifying available balances for investment, reviewing placement options to ensure each conforms to Town fiscal policy, managing the transfer and regularly reviewing yields and other investment options.
Debt Management involves: the identification of debt needs, researching available options for debt placement, issuing debt, avoiding positive arbitrage, and managing repayment.
Fixed Asset Management involves: identifying and tracking all capital assets owned by the Town, calculating depreciation and budgeting it where appropriate and complying with external audit requirements established by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB).
Internal Support functions minimally include providing necessary training and communication on finance related items, providing information for departmental research/reports, supporting requests of the Town Commission and all other interested parties, assisting with the identification of service resources.
Purchasing and Contracts Management responsibilities include: reviewing departmental proposals for purchases, assisting with reviews of letters of interest and similar documents, monitoring and managing Town-wide contracts, assisting with grant compliance and other special revenue management and seeking Town-wide efficiencies in the purchasing function.