MOUNT VERNON — In February 2023, the City of Mount Vernon contracted with Knox County to handle the city’s IT services. Earlier this year, the county also took over operating and maintaining the city’s new phone system.
While the personnel side of the relationship works well, the county is having difficulty getting paid.
County IT Director Kyle Webb told the county commissioners Aug. 8 that the city still owes nearly $14,000 for services from January through June 2024.
Additionally, he said that computer vendor Dell will not ship equipment to Mount Vernon because the city is behind in payment.
When the city and county amended their contract to include phone services, the county added a 3% late payment penalty because of previous late payments.
Commissioner Bill Pursel mentioned the possibility of terminating the contract if the city cannot meet its obligation.
“We’ve got to make sure we’re getting these payments,” Commissioner Teresa Bemiller said.
Mount Vernon Safety-service Director Tanner Salyers acknowledged the payment difficulties.
“When we moved from ECR to the county to implement a new VOIP phone system, they required us to put in a 3% late penalty because the city has a reputation for not paying its bills on time,” Salyers said.
“Last year, the county carried $75,000 from our networking line [item fund]. To avoid that from happening again, I encumbered $75,000 so that we could pay them this year.”
On July 8, the county invoiced the city $88,925 for services from January through June. This amount included the increased contract price of $80,000 and $8,925 for phone services from April through June.
The payment was due Aug. 7. The city paid $75,000 on July 22 and still owes $13,925.
Financial harm to the city
Salyers said an unpaid bill from early 2023 has strained the city’s relationship with computer equipment supplier Dell. The purchase order was processed, but the bill is unpaid.
The city has not fully executed several outstanding technology quotes and contracts, which puts the city’s technical security at risk.
Additionally, the city has not paid a $24,107.51 May invoice from Clemans Nelson & Associates, the city’s compensation consultant, and was fined more than $25,884 by the Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC) for late payments and lapses.
During that time, an employee filed a minor injury claim.
“Because of that lapse [in payment], the city is 100% responsible for that claim, and will be 100% liable for that claim in the future,” Salyers said.
“We applied for a ‘one-time forgiveness’ for $16,147 [in fines], but a late payment occurred after that. So I don’t know if that jeopardizes our request.”
Salyers said a big problem behind the late payments is an antiquated system and an overworked city auditor staff.
“It needs to be made clear that our department heads process the bills on time,” he said. “If this were an issue that was in my power to control, it would have been corrected.
“We are being financially harmed from it.”
‘In the dark’
Regarding the city-county IT contract, City Auditor Terry Scott said he was not involved in negotiating the terms or conditions but eventually received a bill to pay.
“We’re migrating ourselves to the county, and in the effort of getting everything set up, there would be some lag time,” he said.
According to Scott, department heads are responsible for securing purchase orders (PO). When his office receives a bill, he matches it with the purchase order.
“That’s the process. Does the process always work like clockwork? Not usually,” he said.
“But 90% of the time or better, people follow process.”
Scott said he needs help processing the BWC invoice because it does not contain enough information.
“BWC is an allocated entry,” he explained. “Sometimes it’s one department, several departments, or all departments that the costs are distributed over.
“Internally, I think some people are not acclimated to how it sometimes needs to be distributed. There’s not enough information from the invoice to tell me how or to who it would be distributed.
“Sometimes, I am in the dark,” he added.
Filling vacancies
The auditor’s office used to have four staff members years ago, then it went to three. Since one employee transferred to another department in July 2023, it’s just Scott and one other employee.
Scott said that significantly affected the office.
“Everybody had our niche of what we did,” he explained. “The employee who transferred handled the accounts payable section, which is very critical. That left me and one other staff position to pick up the load.
“And we already had a load.”
Scott said he has been working seven days a week, and the other employee is working six.
“We had to modify our normal procedures because our volume of work is well beyond our capacity,” he said.
The office staff increased to three at the end of July. Scott said the individual has experience with accounts payable and the current software.
The office currently pays some bills each week. Previously, staff processed all bills every other week and payroll on the alternate week.
“Eventually we will get back to the every other week processing accounts payable and payroll,” he said.
