The City of Bloomington’s Special Fiscal Committee believes its financial documents are due for an upgrade.
City Controller Jessica McClellan presented the 2024 annual fiscal report to committee members Wednesday. Isak Asare, Isabel Piedmont-Smith and Hopi Stosberg attended; Dave Rollo was absent.
Read more: City council establishes Fiscal Committee & Budget Task Force
The 91-page report includes a breakdown of city funds and bonds, including some McClellan said are old, unused, or have a negative balance.
She said the solid waste fund continues to find itself in the negative, despite receiving fund transfers from the city’s general fund and customer payments. McClellan said the fund usually lacks enough money to cover the purchase of sanitation trucks.
“I think it’s a fund that definitely needs some better fiscal analyses of exactly what revenues are needed to support it and how we’re going to balance user fees with city subsidy,” she said.
According to the report, the solid waste fund started 2024 with a negative balance of -$300,786.68. Through fund transfers and customer utility payments, the fund rose to $3,349,031.04. The city spent $3,264,541.48, leaving the account with a deficit of -$216,297.12.
The committee recommended creating additional columns in the annual report to explain when and why a fund was created, its activity status, and how the money can be used going forward. The report lacks any clarifying information on which funds are old, inactive, or in-use.