Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: CONSENT CALENDAR (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: FINANCIAL POLICIES UPDATE
Date: June 25, 2024
Written by: Angela Courter, Director of Administrative Services Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council adopt a Resolution approving the consolidation and update of the comprehensive City of Cotati Financial Principles and Policies.
Background
Financial policies are essential and central to a strategic, long-term approach to the fiscal management of the City by the elected officials and staff. Financial policies also create and define a shared understanding of how the City will develop its financial practices and manage its resources to provide the best value to the community and provide structure, boundaries and limits on the actions City staff may take. The Financial Principles and Policies provide critical guidelines for the following critical financial activities:
• Financial Reporting and Budgeting Policies
• Fiscal Resiliency Policies
• Revenues Control and Management Policies
• Expenditure and Purchasing Policies
• Credit Card Management Policies
• Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policies
• Capital Assets Policies
• Grant Management Policy
• Investment Management Policies
• Debt Management Policies
• Unfunded Pension Liability Policies
The City currently has a comprehensive suite of policies that were adopted individually over time. This proposed action will update and consolidate the financial policies into a single policy document.
Analysis/Discussion
The policies will be updated periodically but are designed with a long-term perspective and provide the basic framework and road map for addressing a wide variety of financial and economic conditions that the City will encounter, as well as support long-term planning and enhance the City’s effectiveness in implementing long-term strategies to deliver efficient services to the public.
To clarify the policy and ensure consistency with updated accounting standards or state law, the following sections were updated:
• Financial Principles and Policies were broken down into general sections for o Financial Reporting and Budgeting Policies
o Revenues Controls and Managment Policies
o Debt Management Policies
• Addition of New Policies
o Fiscal Resilience Policies (as discussed at the April 9, 2024 City Council meeting) o Grant Management Policy (Previously only retained as standard procedures) • Updated Policies
o Financial Reporting and Budget Policies
▪ Updated to provide guidance on expanded external and internal financial reporting
o Credit Card Policies
▪ Updated outdated language related to processing charge cards and simplified based on best practices in place for processing charges and issuing credit cards
City Staff will continue to review City financial policies for updates for best practices.
Financial Considerations
There is no direct fiscal impact on the City resulting from the adoption of these policies. There maybe be additional staff time required in the development of related updating of procedures that support the policy.
Environmental Issues
The action of adopting Financial Principles and Policies does not constitute a project as defined by California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines Section 15378; therefore, no further environmental review is required.