County Finance Director Scott presents budgeting software proposal to increase annual efficiency and transparency

Following a work session PowerPoint presentation on budget software by ClearGov, beginning at the one-minute video mark (1:00) after an introduction by County Finance Director Alisa Scott, the Warren County Board of Supervisors convened to a regular meeting to take care of some housekeeping business, including approval of an 11-item Consent Agenda; authorization of the purchase of a 2026 Pierce Enforcer Pumper from Atlantic Emergency Solutions for the County Department of Fire & Rescue; discussion of moving toward two-year reassessments; and awarding of service contracts, including the auctioning off of surplus property.

But back to the beginning of that May 2nd work session/meeting package concerning purchase of the ClearGov budgeting software, Finance Director Scott told the board: “The modules we’re most interested in are operational budgeting, personnel budgeting, capital budgeting, providing a digital budgeting book, and the transparency piece which allows our citizens to look into our budgeting through our website.”

Finance Director Alisa Scott explains the benefits of adding ClearGov budgeting software to the County’s budget process system. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

In introducing her remotely connected presentation, Kristin Fine of the Massachusetts-based company offered this perspective on what her company does, and its benefit to municipal budget preparation and record keeping: “My plan today is to give you a kind of quick 10-minute presentation, first in giving you a little background of exactly what ClearGov does. And then I’m going to show you how ClearGov will make Alisa and Megan and the Finance team’s job more efficient, and how the board can get more involved in the building of the budget. And then last I’ll show you what this will look like to residents — how it will make Warren County more transparent and help people understand the different decisions being made in regards to budget.” Fine then began her PowerPoint presentation at the 1:45 video mark. She soon noted the advantages of preparing budgets with updated, state-of-the-art software, software it appears will be kept up to date in a quickly changing tech environment.

Costs presented indicate a one-time, up front “set up” and staff training fee of $13,500, reduced to $6,000 by way of an “Onboarding Discount” of $7,500 if a contract is signed “by 5/19/23”.

Annual fees for the five-tiered system were cited at $50,600, with a $17,710 annual discount for “bundled solutions” for the entire package reducing annual costs to $32,890.

Well, okay then all you past and present Shenandoah Farms Sanitary District advisory board and committee members, as well as residents — sounds like a dream come true as to that added degree of financial accountability some have been seeking from the County, apparently unsuccessfully, in recent years through the resignation of how many has it been, four or five county finance directors?

In fact, when Ms. Fine asked for questions (12:08 video mark) board Chair Vicky Cook responded with a positive reaction to the transparency aspect, noting that citizens would be able to directly access budget info from the county website: “I’m really impressed to see the inter-connectivity in the transparency to our citizens. Because this could be put on our website … and if you go to Sanitary Districts, let’s say if someone wants to know what’s going on with the Farms … So, it’s real time, so any changes, it’s going to be boom, on the website at all times?” Cook said seeking verification of her understanding of the process.

Fine responded positively; however, she added that updates would be posted monthly as budget processes evolved, rather than in a continuous daily manner that might leave gaps on inter-budgetary aspects that might not be immediately apparent. “Accuracy,” was the operational ClearGov goal, as opposed to speed of suggested changes posting without thorough analysis, Fine pointed out.

ClearGov introduces itself during PowerPoint presentation, including an exclusive endorsement by the National Assn. of Counties

In follow-up questioning, Supervisor Delores Oates sought further clarification as to “streamlining” of the budget process from County Administrator Ed Daley, who responded, “If I may answer that, mam — This is her idea,” with a nod toward Finance Director Scott at the podium, drawing some laughter from the board. More seriously, Scott replied (16:00 video mark) that the “streamlining” came in the budget process itself — “We have 99 funds, because each of those funds has in themselves spread sheets, each of those Excel spreadsheets has five or six tabs to it. So this process, though not a financial system, the process will allow us to budget better,” the finance director explained, adding, “And the transparency piece is going to be great for the public to be aware of our expenditures and revenue,” to which Ms. Cook added that built-in annual comparisons would be part of the ClearGov program.

“When you look at what we have, we always go, ‘Well, what was last year like’?” Cook observed of a disconnect between past and future budgets.

The supervisors forwarded a vote on the ClearGov budget software proposal as part of the evening’s meeting Consent Agenda, where it was approved for purchase as presented. So, are increased clarity and transparency in Sanitary District, among other budgetary matters, on the horizon?

Continued discussion indicated that ClearGov was able to integrate with at least 20 municipal financial systems at ground zero of annual budget processes, that being crucial since the County is looking at new financial system options as well.

A vote on the ClearGov budgeting software contract purchase was forwarded to the coming meeting Consent Agenda that evening, where it was approved as presented.

See this discussion, as well as others cited in the County video of the work session and meeting (latter beginning at 27:50 video mark) of May 2.