IMPORTANT BUDGET INFORMATION

Budget Builders,

This blog post contains very important information you will need to prepare your budgets. Please read carefully!

1. The Fleet Rental Rates have been calculated for FY 09/10 and 10/11 and can be accessed here: P:\Budget Process Information\2009-11\09-11 Equip Rates by Dept.xls.

2. In addition, there have been some revisions to the Short Term Lease Rates shown on page 30 of your budget manual. Please replace that table with the one below:

Pool vehicle type----------Description-----------------------------Hourly---- Daily------Weekly----Monthly
N/C-------------------FLEET FLEET COURTESY VEHICLE----------- No Charge-----------
P/U-F/S--------------PICKUP TRUCK - FULL SIZE---- 4.78-----38.27---- 191.33--- 765.31
SED-COMP HY-------SEDAN - COMPACT HYBRID----- 2.62---- 20.93--- 104.65--- 418.59
SEDAN-F/S-----------SEDAN - FULL SIZE--------------4.08---- 32.65--- 163.27--- 653.10
VAN-F/S PASS -------VAN - FULL SIZE PASSENGER---3.46---- 27.69----138.45--- 553.80
VAN-MINI PAS-------VAN - MINIVAN PASSENGER----4.04---- 32.33--- 161.65--- 646.58

3. For those of you who have property tax expense in your budgets, individual departments will be responsible for entering their own property tax expenditure budgets (objects 54601 and 53102). A good rule of thumb would be to increase the previous year expenditures by 2% plus an amount for any new acquisitions.

4. The Fund Balance Worksheet is located at P:\Budget Process Information\2009-11\Fund Balance Worksheet.xls. This worksheet contains 6/30/08 fund balance information for various funding sources often used in capital projects and maintenance of various districts that we thought might be helpful (no enterprise funds though). It is not yet a complete listing citywide, but what is here should be helpful to some of you.

On the worksheets, the first column indicates the fund's current budget information which includes all FY08-09 budgeted project costs/expenditures against the fund. In some instances, these costs also include the projected project costs in the “out” years of the Five-Year CIP (as presented in the FY07-09 Budget document). The second column is for your use if you wish. You may enter what you believe would be projected revenue and expenditures for this year and onward to come up with ending fund balance at the end of the upcoming two year budget cycle.


Thank you!
Budget Team

IFAS Technical Contacts

We’ve had some questions recently about who to contact with technical questions or problems related to IFAS. We want to clarify that the primary contact for any issues or questions that pertain directly to IFAS technical matters is Jeremy Craig (Finance Manager). Given his project implementation duties and schedule, it is easiest and most effective to reach Jeremy through e-mail rather than voicemail. He will either address your concern as soon as possible or pass on the information to someone who can help you. In the event Jeremy cannot be reached, Walt Browning from IT Division is also a great resource. The IT Help Desk is also available and able to assist with resolving IFAS technical issues.

We know that there are many challenges as we work through the new budget process and the new IFAS system. Because of this, we want to be as responsive and helpful as possible in assisting you with all this “newness”. So please do contact us with any questions, concerns, or problems.

Thank you.

IFAS Technical Update

This message is to provide you with a status report on the delay of the upload of actual numbers for FY 06-07, 07-08, and through 12/30/08 into the IFAS budget module. As you know, we have taken information out of the AS400 and converted it into the new chart of accounts to facilitate the upload.

One of the next to last steps requires using an IFAS program that takes an electronic file containing the AS400 data and uploads it into IFAS. As you know, we have had an issue with this process. The vendor has diagnosed the problem and developed a code fix that they have tested and assured us that it will work. We are on the waiting list for the developers at IFAS to take our server down and replace the faulty software code with the corrected code. As soon as this occurs, we will quickly upload our data and do quality control to verify its accuracy. Once completed, we will be ready for you to run the Budget Worksheet Report.

In the meantime, there is no impact on budget entry into IFAS for 2010 & 2011. As soon as the actuals are uploaded, we will send another notice.

We apologize for the delay. We understand that having the comparative numbers is crucial for your analysis and we are doing everything we can to get these numbers in and available for you. Thank you for your continued patience. Meanwhile, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email us at ifas@cityofnapa.org.

Financial Data in the IFAS system

The uploading of FY 2007, 2008, and 2009 to-date financial information into the IFAS system is wrapping up. This project has taken a little longer than expected due to the volume of accounts and the need for extra verification of some information. Finance has been working diligently to get these numbers in quickly, but also accurately. We expect the upload to be finished Monday, February 3rd. The information will then be tested, and barring any major issue with testing, Budget Builders can access the system starting Wednesday, February 5th to run the Budget Worksheet Report that will assist you with preparing your operating budget.

Budget Entry Labs

IFAS budget entry labs in the RLS--We have set a schedule for the budget entry labs that will be held at the RLS. The labs will be on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays during the weeks of February 9th and February 23rd. Sessions will be held from 9:00-12:00 and 2:00-4:00 pm on these days. Finance staff will be on hand during these times to answer questions and assist with entering budget information into the IFAS system. To make sure we can assist people in an effective manner, we will limit each session to a maximum of 8 people and representation from no more than 3 departments at one time. Please contact Leslie Erickson in Finance to reserve a session space. Reservations will be made on a first-come first-served basis.