Thursday, March 21, 2013

Wait, what was that?

We had two outstanding items that were to go to F&O for our last meeting but didn't make it:
gb #3-87 -  Mr. Foley/Mr. O’Connell/Mr. Monfredo
                 (February 28, 2013)
Request that the City Auditor provide a report to the Joint Meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance and Operations and the City Council's Subcommittee on Education that describes by function and level of funding the actual level of service provided by city administrative departments (Auditing, Purchasing, Information Technology, City Manager/Budget Office, City Treasurer) to the Worcester Public Schools and compare to the methodology used to charge these services towards net school spending purposes.  Further, provide the analysis for the level of city administrative service in connection with grants management; and further, request that the City Auditor provide a report that details the level of services provided by the Worcester Public Schools that qualify for federal Medicaid reimbursement.  These reports should also identify how each of these fees compare to other gateway cities.

gb #3-88 -  Mr. Foley/Mr. O’Connell/Mr. Monfredo
                 (February 28, 2013)
Request that the City Auditor work with School Department officials to review school administrative costs as reported to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and provide a report on how these fees compare on a percentage of budget basis with other gateway cities.

The first item asks the City Auditor, Mr. DelSignore, to look at the city's financial arrangements and report out to our joint committee on that. And that's fine. 

The second item, however, is asking the City Auditor to look at our fiscal management. I have no qualms about having anyone look at our fiscal management--we vote the major contracts, we vote the budget, the fiscal management is one of our major functions, and I feel confident about what we've done--but I do think that asking the auditor to look at our fiscal functions makes it appear we're not sure about the job we are doing. Thus the request for a roll call on gb #3-88, which went 5-2, Colorio and Novick against.

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