MONROE - Communication needs to be honed and strengthened at the city level, Chairman Reid Stangel concluded at a Finance and Taxation Committee meeting Tuesday, Nov. 12.
For what appeared to be their final showdown with City Administrator Phil Rath, most of the Senior Center Board members attended the meeting to voice concerns about the city retaining control of their activities funds and the concerns of other senior center users who donate money or volunteer their time and efforts to raise funds specifically for it.
To ease the seniors' main concern, City Comptroller Bridget Schuchart was on hand and explained their activities account "is its own separate fund," distinct from other city funds and from the general fund. The unused balance at the end of each year is automatically carried over to the next year as required by law, she said.
For months, some members of the board and Behring Senior Center director Tammy Derrickson have had meetings with Rath and other city officials to settle an issue that centered on mixing the center's activities cash with the city's general fund accounts.
The center had a separate bank account for the activities fund until early this year, when the city closed excess banking accounts. Checks were not being written on the bank account, Schuchart said. Instead, the funds were transferred from the bank account to the city to reimburse it for checks it wrote to cover the center's programs.
At the meeting Tuesday, Senior Citizens Board members spoke of their perceptions of the city not trusting them to handle the account, which they said they had done successfully for decades. Besides funding programs and events, they raised about $1 million for additions and building improvements over the years.
The group currently raises about $65,000 to $75,000 annually through trips, classes, fundraisers, programs, grants, donations, and their craft shop and greeting card sales.
But they also spoke as if they didn't trust the city: Mistakes had been found in the city accounting, and the accounting reports were difficult to read or understand, they said. Some senior citizens said confusion with their activities account had been going on for eight years.
They were vastly concerned the balance in the activities account at the end of each year would be cleared out and dumped into the city's general fund, as other departmental accounts are. Other seniors, they said, were leery about donating anything to the center, if it went to the city. Any assurances or agreements given by the current board or council could be overturned by the next set of elected officials, they added.
Rath turned to city code as his backup to prove the city's authority and requirement to account for any monies, even those raised or donated, to the senior center.
He also noted the city contributes from levied taxes about a quarter million dollars a year for the building, utilities and employees, which he said should be considered in the full costs of the programing at the center. He said the center could become a separate, non-profit organization but doubted the seniors could raise enough money to provide all the operating costs needed.
Schuchart ended the impasse with about five minutes of explanation, but not before the seniors and Rath attempted to make their positions understood for nearly an hour.
Accounting entries are made weekly from information submitted by the Senior Center, according to Schuchart. She said mistakes in accounting do happen, often by a wrong key stroke, but she noted that in the past the seniors' own accounting ledgers were also found to have had mistakes. Mistakes are why audits are performed, she said.
Committee member Tyler Schultz made a motion to return the activities account monies to the Senior Center's control and oversight, which failed to get a second. With no other motions or committee actions, the senior center activity fund will remain as it is.
For what appeared to be their final showdown with City Administrator Phil Rath, most of the Senior Center Board members attended the meeting to voice concerns about the city retaining control of their activities funds and the concerns of other senior center users who donate money or volunteer their time and efforts to raise funds specifically for it.
To ease the seniors' main concern, City Comptroller Bridget Schuchart was on hand and explained their activities account "is its own separate fund," distinct from other city funds and from the general fund. The unused balance at the end of each year is automatically carried over to the next year as required by law, she said.
For months, some members of the board and Behring Senior Center director Tammy Derrickson have had meetings with Rath and other city officials to settle an issue that centered on mixing the center's activities cash with the city's general fund accounts.
The center had a separate bank account for the activities fund until early this year, when the city closed excess banking accounts. Checks were not being written on the bank account, Schuchart said. Instead, the funds were transferred from the bank account to the city to reimburse it for checks it wrote to cover the center's programs.
At the meeting Tuesday, Senior Citizens Board members spoke of their perceptions of the city not trusting them to handle the account, which they said they had done successfully for decades. Besides funding programs and events, they raised about $1 million for additions and building improvements over the years.
The group currently raises about $65,000 to $75,000 annually through trips, classes, fundraisers, programs, grants, donations, and their craft shop and greeting card sales.
But they also spoke as if they didn't trust the city: Mistakes had been found in the city accounting, and the accounting reports were difficult to read or understand, they said. Some senior citizens said confusion with their activities account had been going on for eight years.
They were vastly concerned the balance in the activities account at the end of each year would be cleared out and dumped into the city's general fund, as other departmental accounts are. Other seniors, they said, were leery about donating anything to the center, if it went to the city. Any assurances or agreements given by the current board or council could be overturned by the next set of elected officials, they added.
Rath turned to city code as his backup to prove the city's authority and requirement to account for any monies, even those raised or donated, to the senior center.
He also noted the city contributes from levied taxes about a quarter million dollars a year for the building, utilities and employees, which he said should be considered in the full costs of the programing at the center. He said the center could become a separate, non-profit organization but doubted the seniors could raise enough money to provide all the operating costs needed.
Schuchart ended the impasse with about five minutes of explanation, but not before the seniors and Rath attempted to make their positions understood for nearly an hour.
Accounting entries are made weekly from information submitted by the Senior Center, according to Schuchart. She said mistakes in accounting do happen, often by a wrong key stroke, but she noted that in the past the seniors' own accounting ledgers were also found to have had mistakes. Mistakes are why audits are performed, she said.
Committee member Tyler Schultz made a motion to return the activities account monies to the Senior Center's control and oversight, which failed to get a second. With no other motions or committee actions, the senior center activity fund will remain as it is.