Residents press Fort Thomas for clearer monthly reports, spreadsheet-format finances and stronger check controls
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Summary
During public comment at the Finance Committee meeting, multiple residents urged the city to post financial files in searchable formats, provide monthly department-level budget-vs.-actual reports and stop practices that undermine public confidence — including questions about preprinted mayoral check names and dual-signature signoff.
FORT THOMAS, Ky. — Several Fort Thomas residents used the Finance Committee—s Nov. 5 public-comment period to press for easier public access to financial records and stronger controls over check signing.
Nicole (Highland Avenue) said the auditors— explanations made her "feel much better," but added that she now has more questions and wants profit-and-loss statements for every city event and monthly department reports showing budget versus actual so the council and public can hold staff accountable. She also pointed to a small beginning-balance discrepancy between successive budget ordinances that staff later traced to a duplicated pension entry that has been corrected.
Joan Ferris (66 Boerne Lane) urged the city to post financial files in searchable spreadsheet formats rather than static PDFs, so the public can subtotal and categorize accounts-payable data. "Having anything out there is an improvement, but I wish they were a little bit more user-friendly," Ferris said.
Several speakers asked about check-signing practices. City staff explained that the bank requires two authorized signatures and that the mayor's name is printed on checks but a printed name alone does not allow checks to be cashed without an authorized signature. "It requires two right now; it requires two signatures," a city official said. Staff also described a process to have additional staff review bank check registers and provide a second set of eyes on monthly bank-ledegers.
Staff response on posting and timing
Interim Finance Director Linda Chapman said the city can publish a cash-checking-account printout quickly but warned that investment statements and some merchant-receipt statements often arrive later in the month (for example, some investment statements arrive around the 15th), and those late-arriving entries will change the balance sheet as posted. She said she could post the checking-account transactions promptly but that the full month-end accrual picture may change as later statements and deposits post.
Next steps
Public commenters recommended regular, quarterly finance updates and more complete monthly reporting; council members and staff said they intend to continue the new monthly reconciliation process and to improve public posting formats and timeliness.