Budget Message / Highlights - Metropolitan Water Reclamation ...

METROPOLITAN WATER RECLAMATION DISTRICT OF GREATER CHICAGO
2009 BUDGET
FINANCE
2009 BUDGET NARRATIVE (continued)
3. To consistently achieve a high level of customer satisfaction with payroll operations.
The achievement of this goal is reflected in the ability to pay all employees accurately and on-time in compliance with
regulatory schedules. The Payroll Unit ensures accurate and timely payments of wages, reimbursable expenses, and that
employee benefits are charged appropriately. Finance intends to implement Employee-Self Service (ESS) in SAP during 2009
which will provide employees with the ability to access compensation information on-line. Finance will also explore the
automation of the time entry process.
4. Promote cost effective and quality service to external and internal clients through continuous improvements.
Finance desires to reduce their costs to process invoices, as well as overall costs to run the Finance Department. Expanding the
automatic invoice processing and expanding electronic vendor payments for system contracts and non-system contracts will
reduce operating costs and improve staff productivity. Providing tools to managers so that they may effectively use financial
data will increase Finances’ customer service. The 1099 reporting process will be improved as a result of adding and
maintaining W-9 information in SAP vendor database.
5. To safeguard official records and ensure they are readily retrievable.
The Office of the Clerk records, publishes, and archives all the official proceedings (and related documents) of the Board of
Commissioners and manages the fiscal records of the District in accordance with State statutes. Use of District-wide tracking
software facilitates the timely retrieval and reproduction of records that may be required by District managers, Freedom of
Information Act requests and/or subpoenas. Finance is required by statutory regulations to preserve the official acts of the
Board of Commissioners. Finance will seek to standardize the preparation of Board Letters and Orders, facilitate electronic
capture of Board proceedings and other approved records, and make them available to District constituents through its web site.
Finances’ goal will be to streamline overall Board processes and eliminate inefficiencies.
6. To ensure all revenues due the District (excluding property and personal property replacement taxes) are billed
and collected in a timely manner.
Finance bills and collects user charge revenues, the
District Revenues
User Charge
Thousands
major component of the accounts receivable function.
Grants
To facilitate an alternate method of collecting
$60,000
SRF Lo ans
revenues and maximize cash management, the
Rents
department will seek to expand the on-line payment
option to user charge payers, real estate tenants, and
$50,000
other billings to facilitate prompt payments.
Revenues from government real estate transactions
$40,000
and miscellaneous sources, as well as proceeds from
grant loans, are also invoiced and collected by the
Billing Unit. Finance will investigate the feasibility
$30,000
of implementing the SAP Accounts Receivable
module to replace PIMS BILL and IREIS legacy
systems.
$20,000
The Law and Finance Departments will continue to
pursue collection from delinquent User Charge
customers to ensure payment and reduce delinquent
$10,000
accounts.
7. To conduct independent audits in accordance
with applicable auditing standards and
management guidelines, as detailed in the Internal
Audit Charter.
Internal Audit provides the Audit Committee, chaired by the Executive Director, objective analysis, appraisals,
recommendations, and pertinent comments on the audited operations. In 2008 the Internal Auditing Section developed a risk
assessment model by which all audits since have and will be planned. The Internal Audit section will continue to perform
audits of District functions to identify opportunities to reduce costs, enhance revenues, and improve operational efficiencies.
Finance intends to implement the audit tools available in SAP and establish related internal audit reviews.
8. To provide a work environment that is conducive to and promotes employee excellence.
Finance has developed a cross-training program for its professional and support staff. Finance promotes ongoing training,
through the tuition reimbursement program, in-house and external seminars for all its staff members.
$0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Estimated
228
228