Finance committee forms in Saratoga Springs

Finance committee forms in Saratoga Springs
Lance Madigan - North County Staff
Hoping to avoid the financial trouble the city faced last year at budget time, the Saratoga Springs City Council has adopted a new volunteer finance committee, which met for the first time last week.

"This committee is expected to make recommendations to the city manager and City Council regarding budgeting policies, practices and any other finance issues," said Ken Leetham, Saratoga Springs city manager.


At the beginning of the year, the City Council was informed Saratoga Springs could be facing as much as a $3.5 million deficient. This was news to the City Council as well as very concerning to them.

At that time and ever since, the council and city administration has been working to form a volunteer committee with the express purpose to provide third-party revenue and ideas for city finances.

"I am very excited to be getting this finance committee going," said City Council member Jefferson Moss. "I think we have some amazingly talent people willing to help."

The mayor and City Council interviewed the applicants and selected the members at the end of last year. The Saratoga Springs Finance Committee members were named and the committee officially formed by city resolution at the end of November.

The five regular members include Travis Clegg, Kory Farrer, Jeff Francom, Jeffrey Randall and Stephen Willden. Bill Ennis and David Funk will serve as alternate members.

Clegg is a security manager at the Utah Community Credit Union. With 14 years experience at the credit union, as well as a bachelors in business and an MBA, Clegg said, "I thought it was a great opportunity to serve in my community. I believe community service is important to the long-term success of any community."

Farrer is an international controller for ACS.

"I knew that the city had got in some trouble in some finances -- overspending, projecting more revenue than they were getting, et cetera," Farrer said.

Farrer said he works with employees outside the United States to help coordinate budgeting and reporting for the company. He also has experience with tax preparation, and has been counseling clients on budget preparation for more than 20 years.

"I am amazed that some people that only make $40,000 [annually] with 20 kids still have invested income," he said. "I have developed some systems of budgeting that I share with clients and members of the community. I hope that I can help the city out. I want my community to be nice and have control of their finances. "

Francom has been a financial advisor for 12 years, and currently operates the Edward Jones Investment office in American Fork. He said his goal is to "... make sure every dollar is making an appropriate return on investment."

"'Does it make sense?' That applies to whether you are investing or deciding to do something in a public park or a new program in public safety," Francom said.

"I felt like I finally could apply my professions skills in a setting which can have a positive effect on my community and neighbors as opposed to shareholders of a large corporation," Willden said. "As a senior auditor for Zions Bancorporation, my primary responsibilities involve reviewing practices and working with executive management to improve, strengthen or streamline current procedures, processes and controls. This requires me to very quickly gain an understanding of processes at both a high and detailed level in order to really understand what changes need to be made or what is working well. I then present my recommendations to Zions Bancorporation Executive management. I expect that I will use my current skill set in the very same manner as directed by the City Council."

In explaining the goal's of the committee, Leetham said the committee will provide input on the city's long-range goals and be another set of professionals that will provide balance and input on what best practices should be implemented, set long-range financial goals and provide recommended financial practices and strategies. The committee will also provide the City Council with specific budget recommendations.