6.1b ERMUSR 01-12-2016 Elk River �.
Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Theresa Slominski—Finance and Office Manager
John Dietz—Chair
Al Nadeau—Vice Chair
Daryl Thompson—Trustee
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
January 12, 2016 6.1b
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
DISCUSSION:
I realize that in my communications to you regarding NISC, the frustrations have been, all too
often, the focus of my reports. Recognizing that, I wanted to be sure to share highlights as well.
A really great option in NISC is the capability to copy your data into a test company and then
test processes or reports to see how it actually works in the system. This allows you to see the
end results and make corrections before impacting your live customers and/or financials. We
have the capability to refresh the data multiple times and run processes multiple times until we
are satisfied with the outcome. This is used every month to preview bill calculations and we
utilized this functionality to create the assessment/write-off process and related reports. Also, in
preparation for year-end we did a number of tests in the NISC software for 1099s and W2s. We
can use this functionality to re-create a problem and test the solution(s), allowing us to
implement the correct solution instead of guessing or perhaps making the situation worse instead
of better. Anything new we want to try, we can preview it with the test companies first and then
decide if we want to proceed. It is a great functionality that we truly, truly, appreciate and value!
Year End Inventory counts were conducted 12/29/2015 for Electric, 12/30/2015 for Water, and
the week of 12/19/2015 for Security. Line Truck inventories were counted the day before the
parts inventory this year and that seemed to work well. The Electric inventory was 99% accurate,
however there were some wide swings that we are investigating. Water inventory was also 99%
accurate. Security is still being determined due to some inaccurate invoice posting that resulted
in items being expensed instead of recorded to inventory. I will provide a final update verbally if
it is available by the commission meeting date, otherwise in a subsequent staff update.
Troy and I conferred with our Senior Auditor, Andrew Berg, on January 6th to further discuss the
accounting treatment for the Loss of Revenue (LOR) component of the Territory Acquisition and
our concern with the significant estimating that would be necessary for a complete ten year
liability to be recognized in year one. After further discussion,we agreed to recognize an asset
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each year as the LOR is calculated and paid. We are still discussing whether to capitalize it in
the year of payment or year of earning, and if the amortization term will be indefinite or the same
as the infrastructure component. (Previously we had recognized it in the year of payment, and
amortized over the term of the infrastructure component.)Andrew wanted to reach out to GASB
experts and consult with peers and then have further discussion. Either way, we will not have to
revise or amend the 2016 budget for this item.
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