Draft 2021 North Perth Combined Operating and Capital Budget

Finance Department: Operating Overview 2020 Review and 2021 Outlook General Processing and Accounting: The Finance Department will be focusing on the implementation of the Council approved 2021 Finance Department Business Plan priorities, as part of ongoing operational responsibilities, to advance the strategic goals of the Municipality of North Perth. Project priorities will be integrated with operational expectations for the department.

In 2020, the Finance staffing complement was completely filled, for the first time in a few years, with fully engaged and well trained staff to complete the work and serve the public. Additional staff hours have enabled the department to cope with the increase in the number of annual transactions for audit, volume increase, legislative changes, asset management detail, funding documentation, supplemental tax billings and additional ongoing billings for taxes, water/wastewater, day care, etc.

The Finance and Purchasing Assistant position has steadily increased the supportive role for Department Heads and Supervisors that ensures all necessary documents are circulated and received for each purchase. The Bids and Tender software application continues to ensure a fair and competitive purchasing process for more and more products and services. Electrical trade and professional engineering services were addressed by proposal requests for rostering these services in 2020. Additional trades/services will be focused on this year. During 2020, Council and the Management Team were provided with an updated Purchasing By-law for consideration. Another draft will be circulated early in 2021 for consideration which will incorporate input from Council, staff and the municipal solicitor, as needed. This update is to be completed in 2021 as part of the Business Plan.

KPMG consultants completed an Administrative Process Efficiency Review in 2020. From their draft report, the Finance Department is anticipating the development and implementation of new policies and processes within the department during the coming months, as per the direction of Council.

In an effort manage increased workload through efficiencies, the Finance Department staff continued to document processes and procedures for the various aspects of each position within the department. We are continuing to document Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for all processes. This endeavor gives us the opportunity to review our processes for efficiencies, as well as documenting each task for cross training initiatives. SOP documentation will continue in 2021 as we have made a number of changes to refine operations. This will include the Donation Policy note in the 2021 Business Plan.

Accounting and reporting polices and processes are being analyzed closely by Finance staff and the Management Team to determine if any changes need to executed prior to the implementation of the new budgeting software as part of the 2021 Business Plan.

The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) implemented a new process for public access in North Perth but, unfortunately, this was discontinued due to COVID