Keefe, Gov. Mgmt. Letters - Laserfiche WebLink

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City of Key West, Florida PRIOR YEAR FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: (continued) Management's Response: The City of Key West recognizes the unmatched meters issue and is working to resolve these discrepancies. Recent matching efforts have demonstrated the process of matching can be accomplished but requires a considerable level of effort from several departments to make even the slightest gain on the issue. Under consideration by City Management is the use of several contract employees on a limited basis to handle the field work and the use of available "in-place" resources to update customer account files. 2007-09: Capital Assets Acquired with Grant Funding and City-Wide Inventory Controls Strict guidelines are required for tracking and maintaining capital assets acquired with Federal and State awards. The property control system must clearly identify the property and equipment acquired with grant funding and contain specific information. Current controls do not ensure that proper identification requirements are being adhered to in all cases. As previously recommended to the City, in September 2009, the City conducted a physical inventory of its capital assets in conjunction with the Finance Department and the Assistant City Manager's Office. Written procedures need to be designed, implemented and monitored to ensure the continued compliance with inventory controls and the proper identification of acquisitions and disposals of property and equipment. Management's Response: The City's fixed asset reporting system has been updated to clearly identify those fixed assets acquired wholly or partially with grant proceeds. The final step, which will be completed by September 30, 2010, is to identify the source and percentage of grant contribution for those fixed assets acquired wholly or partially with grant proceeds. 2008-07: Review Collection Procedures - Sewer, Stormwater and Solid Waster Services During our audit, we noted that delinquent accounts receivable balances related to sewer, stormwater and solid waste services increased significantly. Upon inquiry, staff cited that the Revenue Department may be understaffed, which may cause delays in collection efforts. We recommend that the City assess the cost -benefit of hiring additional staff or outsourcing the services of a collection agency, Management's Response: The City of Key West has struggled with collection of outstanding utility charges for many years. The ability to "shut off" stormwater services is impossible, the ability to "shut off" refuse collections is undesirable, and the ability to "shut off" sewer services is not practical. Subsequently, the City of Key West has been left with only the ability to file liens against the property which insures eventual collection, but not on a timely basis. More aggressive collection efforts are planned. Any and all delinquency improvement efforts are under consideration. A working group, to be headed by the City Manager, will be formed to address the issue on a continual basis. It should be noted the extraordinary high stormwater delinquency rate is attributable in large part to a handful of customers - primarily other governmental entities who contest the applicability of a stormwater fee or contest the manner of calculation. Those few accounts are currently in litigation or under review for possible legal action. 8