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The first and second quarter reports for the City of Williamsport were recently reviewed Tuesday by the Williamsport City Council Finance Committee. They accounted for what the committee believed was an accurate reflection of expenditures and revenues mid-way through the year.
Such quarterly financial reports are helpful to the council as a whole as it prepares for the upcoming 2024 budget season. Budget work sessions are held in November and there are two more quarters of the year to go. The city is operating on a budget that had no real estate tax increase.
"All of the city finances have been accounted for in 2023 with exception of the rent and utilities for River Valley Transit Authority because we do not have accurate finances for those items," said Tracey Rash, city finance manager. Rash is manager of Government Finance Solutions, a service out of Harrisburg that has helped cities to reconcile audits and financial matters.
Rash said she continues to work on providing auditors with financial information from 2020 through 2022 and is making adjustments as she goes.
Councilman Randy Allison noted a few items of concern, particularly the license and permits number, which was under what it was last year.
That revenue was budgeted for $835,000 and he wanted to know if the city might have over-budgeted what it thought it was going to take in.
His answer to the question came from Rash saying that the cable franchise fee had not arrived. The companies had the old addresses to city offices and were in the process of updating them and will be adjusted and arrive within the next month.
Rash also was focused on the street excavation permits. She said she followed up with the Bureau of Codes and was told it was waiting for the contractors to return the information to say that they are completed so that the city could bill them for those permits
The committee has asked for the mid-year financial report going forward and will be supplied it.
The committee is also waiting to hear back from auditors completing the 2019 audit and that is expected to take place in a meeting in early fall.