Action Item 8:Should Council publicly establish policy for when to save and when to spend our "rainy day fund" so Berkeley residents, employee bargaining units, and all stakeholders are aware in advance of how the City will address preparing for future fiscal, climate-related, or catastrophic events?
Tonight's item adds back "criteria for action" proposed, but not adopted by Council, following Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) guidance in amending their policy.
Other cities also use GFOA guidelines to adopt reserve policies. The City of Hayward's criteria is almost identical to Berkeley's, while Stockton votes Tuesday on more complex language.
Stockton's proposed policy notes their lessons learned from the experience of bankruptcy, and requires a vote of 6 of 7 Council Members to draw down funds from "Priority II" reserves for events such as revenue volatility and catastrophic events.
Management has almost completed all recommended improvements from our March ambulance billing audit. Fire improved coordination with internal partners and is re-doubling efforts to ensure local hospitals provide needed patient information.
A contracted audit of our Payroll Audit Division found weaknesses in the City's financial software, FUND$, regarding lack of tools to monitor access to prevent fraud. Payroll and IT developed interim but cumbersome workarounds. We reported similar problems with other city software in previous audits; this risk cannot be fully addressed until FUND$ is replaced.
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Thank you for your continued support for our work to help Berkeley deliver services in a more efficient, effective, and equitable way. Please contact me at
[email protected] or at 981-6750 with your questions or comments. I'm always happy to hear from folks who want to get more involved. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Ann-Marie Hogan, Auditor City of Berkeley Auditor's Office
Management has almost completed all recommended improvements from our March 
