ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The Liberal City Commission took care of some final business of 2025 at a special meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Up first for the commission was discussion of amendments to the 2025 Fiscal Year budget.
“It is necessary to amend our 2025 Fiscal Year Budget that was adopted Sept. 24, 2024,” Chief Financial Officer Brian Mannel said. “Enclosed, the commission will find the proposed State of Kansas Amended Budget Forms. The notice of Budget Hearing was published Dec. 18, 2025. For the library fund, an amendment is required to account for higher expenses due to delinquent taxes received by Seward County for disbursement. For the Airport Utility fund, an amendment is required to account for higher expenses due to grants received and the hiring of an administrative assistant. For the Water Utility fund, an amendment is required to account for higher expenses incurred due to end-of-year transfer to General Fund and an end-of-year Enterprise Fleet Transfer.”
The commission ultimately voted 4-0 (with commissioner Janeth Vazquez absent) to approve the 2025 Fiscal Year Budget Amendments for the Library, Airport Utility Fund, and Water Utility Fund, followed by another 4-0 vote to approve Ordinance No. 4642 concerning the amendments.
Also on the agenda for the commission was discussion of 2025 Fiscal Year transfers.
“City staff has identified the attached necessary 2025 Fiscal Year transfers, for which sufficient budget authority exists. These are project-based transfers, where we have received commission approval and coded them collectively to the 301 Construction Fund during the project build,” Liberal City Manager Scarlette Diseker said. “At the end of the year, we reconcile each project and request the transfer from the approved funding source to the 301 Construction Fund in order to bring the project balance back to zero. In addition to the transfer into Fund 301, we have identified four completed projects with positive cash balances, of which a transfer back to the originating funding source is necessary to bring the balance to zero and move forward with capitalization.”
After some brief discussion, the commission ultimately voted 4-0 to approve the 2025 Fiscal Year transfers as presented.
Concluding the special meeting was discussion of the reclassification of delinquent accounts receivable and utility accounts.
“Commission approval is necessary to reclassify accounts receivable and utility account delinquencies that are more than 120 days past due, as these are not bookable, quality assets. We last reclassified delinquent accounts as of Dec. 24, 2024,” Mannel said. “The breakdown of these delinquency amounts requiring reclassification is as follows: Accounts Receivable: $32,470.70; Water Delinquency: $21,632.76; Sewer Delinquency: $29,356.67; and Refuse Delinquency: $9,886.58, for a total of $93,346.71. The accounts receivable balance is composed primarily of non-utility amounts (mowing, property damage, City leases, and roll-off trash charges) that we cannot assess to those who incurred them, as either the property ownership has changed or there is no property ownership available to assess the charges to. As we have been strictly enforcing monthly shut-offs for non-pay utility accounts, our overall delinquency rate has been favorable. Before utility service is reconnected, we collect the entire balance due, including any reconnection fees and additional billings. On a monthly basis, the utility accounts are sent to the Kansas State Setoff Program after they become 120 days delinquent. The total utility sales delinquent reclassification percentage is computed as follows: Utilities - Total Sales is $13,483,695.13, and Utilities - Delinquencies is $60,876.01, making for a total UT reclassification of 0.45 percent. Although the delinquent accounts receivable and utility charges will be reclassified from quality assets, City of Liberal staff will continue aggressive collection efforts on these accounts, as usual.”
After some brief discussion, the commission ultimately voted 4-0 to approve the reclassification of delinquent accounts receivable and utility accounts in the total amount of $93,346.71.
