DELINQUENT ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLES $5,000 AND OVER PER ACCOUNT

Transcription

1 FORM GEN. 160 (Rev. 6-80) CITY OF LOS ANGELES INTER-DEPARTMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE DATE: TO: FROM: SUBJECT: January 18, 2011 The Honorable City Council clo Office of the City Clerk Shane Min, Chair~ - Board of Rev1ew. DELINQUENT ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLES $5,000 AND OVER PER ACCOUNT The City of Los Angeles Administrative Code Sections to authorizes any board, commission, or head of any department to prepare a report to a Board of Review (consisting of the Controller, City Treasurer and the Director of Finance) requesting authority to remove uncollectible accounts from the Department's active books. The Board of Review may upon unanimous recommendation approve removal of accounts of less than $5,000. Accounts of $5,000 or more may be removed by the City Council upon recommendation from the Board of Review together with the findings of a board, commission, or head of a department. The Board of Review convened on October 27, 2010 and evaluated an accounts receivable write off request submitted by the Los Angeles Convention Center to write of 3 accounts totaling $34, This report informs the City Council of the results of the Board of Reviews evaluation of the above department's write off request. A copy of the write off request is attached along with the "Findings of the Board of Review Report No ". LOS ANGELES CONVENTION CENTER (LACC) The Board reviewed LACC's September 23, 2010 report requesting write off of 3 uncollectable accounts totaling $34, for fiscal years 2007 and According to LACC, the invoices were referred to the Office of Finance for collection and all collection efforts have been exhausted. The Office of Finance has returned the accounts to LACC as uncollectable. The Board found that additional efforts to collect any portion of the fee could be disproportionately costly in relation to the probable outcome. The Board therefore, unanimously recommends that the City Council approve the LACC's request ). to remove from its active accounts 3 invoices totaling $34,

2 The Honorable City Council January 18, 2011 Page 2 The Board recommends: That the City Council, subject to the approval of the Mayor, approve the Board of Review's recommendations for the: 1. Los Angeles Convention Center to remove from its active accounts receivables 3 invoices totaling $34, Fiscal Impact Statement: The proposed action will decrease the City's receivab le base by $34, Questions and requests for add itional information should be directed to Shane Min of the Controller's Office at or shane.min@lacity.org. Attachments

3 FINDING OF THE BOARD OF REVIEW REPORT NO Pursuant to the provisions of Sections though of the Los Angeles Administrative Code, the Board of Review (Board) held a hearing to review, authorize and/o r recommend delinquent accounts for write off. The meeting was held on October 27, 2010, in Room 350Cof City Hall East, Los Angeles, California. The Board included the following members: Shane Min, Sr. Management Analyst II, representing the City Controller Jeffery Whitmore, Revenue Manager, representing the Office of Finance Crista Binder, Assistant Treasurer, representing the Office of the Treasurer The Board's agenda included consideration for removal of various uncollectible accounts receivable from the active accounts of the Los Angeles Police Department, Department of Public Works - Bureau of Sanitation, and the Los Angeles Convention Center. The Board may approve write offs of accounts less than $ 5,000 each as authorized by the City Council (CF ). The Board may recommend write off of accounts $5,000 and over for approval by the City Council. The results of the Board's review are as follows: Department of Public Works- Bureau of Sanitation (PW- BOS) Before the Board was one write-off request from PW - BOS as follows: I. August 4, 2010 report requesting write off of 843 uncollectable accounts totaling $108, for fiscal years 2003 through All the accounts are less than $5,000. Discussion. PW- BOS provided a list of 843 invoices less than $5,000 totaling $108, for uncollected Industrial Waste fees for fiscal year 2003 through According to PW - 80S the invoices were referred to a collection agency under contract with the City for collections and returned as uncollectible. Therefore, PW - BOS requested approval to write off the 843 accounts totaling $108, PW - BOS made several attempts to co llect the outstanding invoices after which the accounts were turned over to a collection agency under contract with the City. The collection agency has made every effort to collect the accounts. The 843 accounts listed in the PW- BOS report have been returned as uncollectable by the collection agency and beyond the statute of lim itations for co llections. Board's Decision. The Board agreed that all reasonable efforts have been exhausted in the collection of th is account and additional efforts could be disproportionately costly in relation to the probable outcome. Therefore, the Board unanimously approved the request from PW- BOS to remove from its active accounts receivable 843 invoices, less than $5,000 per account, totaling $108, Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners (LABPC) - Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Before the Board were two write off requests from the LAPD forwarded by the LABPC as follows: I. July 20, 2010 report from the LAPD requesting write off of seven (7) uncollectible accounts receivable under $5,000 with a total of $7, Discussion. LAPD provided the Board with a list of (seven) 7 accounts under $5,000 with a total of $7,

4 Finding of the Board of Rev1ew Report No Page 2 of 3 Six (6) of the seven (7) accounts submitted concern task force Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) billings. One (1) account is for unpaid extradition costs. LAPD participates in various task forces and the lead agency reimburses LAPD for overtime work and some travel expenses. The payments are made on a first come first serve basis by the lead agency. In these cases, the agency expended all the available funds before LAPD could bill. The task force agreements and practices have been revised to prevent this from happening. Now the standard practice is that the task force supervising agent must approve all overtime on the task force in advance of the overtime being worked. In March of 2007, an audit was conducted by the Controller's Office in which a recommendation was made that LAPD Fiscal Operations Division (FOD) should identify receivables that are uncollectable and process them for write off. In a follow up audit released July 2010, FOD did identify uncollectable receivables but did not refer them to collections and had not submitted them for write off. FOD does not refer these accounts for collection as they are receivables from another government agency and it is not appropriate to do so. The Controller's Office then recommended that these accounts be submitted to the Board of Review for write off. After deliberation, the Board decided that the City Attorney needed to be consulted to ensure that the Board had the authority to write off these accounts. The Board tentatively approved the write off of the six accounts concerning task force billing pending City Attorney review and confi rmation of the Board's jurisdiction. For the one (1 ) account pertaining to unpaid extradition costs, LAPD followed up with the State for payments. The State disputed it on the grounds that the invoice was never received. LAPD states that all avenues for collection were pursued. However, they do not think it is appropriate to refer receivables from other government agencies for co llections. The Board unanimously approved the write off, as all reasonable efforts had been made for collection. T his item was deemed at the meeting to be an account receivable, and within the Board's jurisdiction to write off. After the meeting, the matter was referred to City Attorney for review. Receivables within the City are classified and reported in the City's Financial Reports under the headers of Taxes, Accounts, Special Assessments, Investment Income, Intergovernmental and Loans & Notes. All the MOA receivables reported by LAPD are classified under "Intergovernmental" receivables. The City Attorney opined that the Board of Review could only write off items that are classified as "Accounts" Receivable. Also, the one (1) account pertaining to unpaid extradition costs was also found to be classified under "Intergovernmental" receivables. The Board's unanimous approval to write off this item is hence deemed invalid as it is beyond the Board's jurisdiction. Board's Decision. The City Attorney has deemed that the above items reviewed by the Board of Review are beyond the jurisdiction of the Board of Review. Hence, the decisions made by the Board at the October 27, 2010 meeting are invalid. The matter will be taken up again at the next Board of Review meeting in light of the new information and City Attorney opinion. II. July 20, 2010 report from the LAPD requesting write off of 8 uncollectible accounts receivable over $5,000 with a total of $115, Discussion. LAPD provided the Board with a list of 7 accounts under $5,000 with a total of $7, and 8 accounts over $5,000 with a total of $115, in uncollected accounts. Six (6) of the eight (8) accounts submitted concern task force MOA billings. The Board tentatively approved recommending the MOA bi llings to City Council for write off for the

5 Find ing of the Board of Review Report No Page 3 of 3 same reasons as above. The remaining two items are for grants receivables. The Board of Review does not have jurisdiction over grants receivables. As grants are received by City departments under the City Council's authority, any changes or write off must be approved by the City Council. The Board recommends that LAPD submit the grant receivables to the City Council directly. Board's Decision. For the 6 items concerning MOA billings, the City Attorney has deemed the items beyond the jurisd iction of the Board of Review. Hence, the decisions made by the Board at the October 27, 2010 meeting are inva lid. Hence, the matter will be taken up again at the next Board of Review meeting in light of the new information and City Attorney opinion. For the two items concerning grants, the Board recommends that LAPD submit the write offs to City Council for consideration. Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC) Before the Board were two write-off requests from LACC as fol lows: I. Septem ber 23, 2010 report requesting write off of sixteen (1 6) unco llectable accounts receivable totaling $14, representing amounts less than $5,000. Discussion. LACC provided the Board with a list of sixteen (16) uncollectible accounts under $5,000 with a total of $14, These accounts are mostly for services provided by LACC on the day of the event. The event space is paid for in advance at the time of booking, LACC has a Receivables aging report that has all accounts forwarded for co llections or write off. The marketing department refers to the list for future bookings and a hold is put on the account so that companies that owe money ca nnot book futu re events until they pay off any outstanding invoices. All 16 accounts have been forwarded to co llection agencies and returned as uncollectable. Board's Decision. The Board has reviewed the list of uncollectible accounts. The Board agreed that additional efforts to collect any sum of the fees could be disproportionately costly in relation to the probable outcome. Therefore, the Board unanimously approved the request from the LACC to remove from its active accounts rece ivable the uncollectible accounts of $14, representing 16 accounts less than $5,000 per account. II. September 23, report requesting write off of three (3) uncollectable accounts receivable totaling $34, representing amounts equal to $5,000 or more. Discussion. LACC provided the Board with a list of three (3) accounts equal to $5,000 or more with a total of $34, These accounts are mostly for services provided by LACC on the day of the event. All three (3) accounts have been forwarded to the Office of Finance for co llections and returned as uncollectable. Board's Decision. The Board agreed that all reasonable efforts have been exhausted in the collection of this account and additional efforts could be disproportionately costly in relation to the probable outcome. Therefore, the Board unanimously recommends that the City Council approve the write off request from LACC to remove from its active accounts receivable, three (3) accounts totaling $34,