Small Agency Services Bulletin - August 2022
| Important Dates | Important Messages | Small Agency Financial Services News | Travel Tips | Contact Us |
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Important Dates
Sept. 2
- Phase 2 CAFR Close. Please note that during year-end close, payment batch processing may be delayed. Contact DES Accounts Payable if there are any items that require priority processing to ensure batches are paid on time.
Sept. 9
- To reflect in your agency's August monthly financial statements, all invoices and travel reimbursement requests are due to Accounts Payable.
Sept. 14
- State Disclosure certificate form is due to OFM Accounting. Your DES Budget Analyst will prepare and submit this form in the system. Please notify us if you will be unavailable during this time.
Sept. 20
- 23-25 Biennial budget requests (decision packages) are due to OFM Budget. Your DES Budget Analyst will be reaching out to you to review when we will need your agency's decision package(s), including full narrative, cost calculations, and answers to supplementary questions so we can meet this OFM due date.
Oct. 1
- New travel reimbursement rates for per diem and lodging go into effect.
Oct. 3
- FY23 Supplemental budget requests (decision packages) are due to OFM Budget. Your DES Budget Analyst will be reaching out to you to review when we will need your agency's decision package(s), including full narrative, cost calculations, and answers to supplementary questions so we can meet this OFM due date.
Nov. 1 through Nov. 30
- Healthcare Benefits Open Enrollment
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Important Messages
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resource
Keep informed via Washington State's coronavirus response website Coronavirus.wa.gov.
New action needs to be taken for SAFS agencies with out of state workers (OOS)
OFM recently became aware that agencies with OOS workers need to register as a multistate employer with the Federal Administration of Children & Families (ACF). This is to comply with federal law in the reporting for child support. This allows OFM to continue the centralized reporting for new hires and rehires to Washington State.
Please note that small agencies must submit this form directly to ACF. Once registered, DES Payroll can maintain the account and complete the annual updates on behalf of the agencies.
Please fill out this simple form Multistate Employer Registration Form for New Hire Reporting and email it to msedb@acf.hhs.gov. For question #4, it is important to designate Washington as the reporting state.
Once registered with ACF you have the option to use the agency IRS EIN (Internal Revenue Service Employer Identification Number) to create an account for your portal to update information online instead of the annual form. Portal link: https://ocsp.acf.hhs.gov/OCSE/ An IP address form will be sent to you after you create a sign on. DES Payroll will need access to this portal information in order do the annual reporting for your agency.
You also have the option of submitting the form annually to update.
Please let Erica.Williamson@des.wa.gov know if you have any further questions.
OFM FY23 Supplemental Budget Instructions are Available
The FY23 supplemental operating, transportation, and capital budget requests are due on Monday, October 3, 2022.
The budget requests should be limited to:
- Required updates and changes due to legally mandated caseloads, workloads or other legally required changes.
- Necessary technical corrections to the enacted 2021-23 budget.
Here's a link to the Budget Instructions.
Annual Healthcare Benefits Open Enrollment is November 1–30.
During the Health Care Authority's (HCA) Public Employees Benefits Board's (PEBB) annual healthcare open enrollment, you can enroll in or make changes to your PEBB benefits, including:
- Enrolling in or waiving medical and dental coverage
- Adding or dropping dependents
- Changing medical and dental plans
- Enrolling or re-enrolling in Medical FSA or DCAP
- Re-attest spouse or state-registered domestic partner coverage premium surcharge
- And more!
Watch for emails and more details about Open Enrollment over the next couple months.
Time to Revisit your Tax Withholding?
It is important to revisit your tax withholding occasionally. Major changes from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act could affect the size of your refund. The IRS offers information on a Paycheck Checkup and a Tax Withholding Estimator to help you see if you are withholding the right amount of tax from your paycheck.
Use the results from the Tax Withholding Calculator to determine whether you need to give your employer a new Form W-4 (2022).
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Small Agency Financial Services News.
SAFS (Small Agency Financial Services) Team Updates
Did you know? Your DES financial support team consists of ALL of our SAFS team members. Even though you may work with specific SAFS members regularly, other SAFS members often step in to assist and provide continuity of services. We would like you to know about our whole SAFS team. Below is a list of each work group within SAFS, the members you may hear from, and recent news or a message from each team.
| Team | Members | News / Message |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts Payable |
Ian Shelley |
|
| Budget |
Diann Lewallen |
|
| Payroll |
Carrie Knudson |
National Payroll Week is Sept. 5-9. Please join us in celebrating our payroll professionals! Thank you Kayla, Tasha, Erica, Vanno, Phuong, Bona, Carrie and Louisa! |
| Accounts Receivable |
Betti Bartoldo |
|
| Administrative Assistance |
Danelle Guerin |
We're sorry to share that Susan has accepted a position with another agency. Please reach out to Danelle and Molly from now on...thank you! |
DES Payroll statistics for July 2022 (42 agencies served)
| Total Employees Paid | 1, 405 |
|---|---|
| Appointment Changes | 61 |
| New Hires / Rehires | 17 |
| Transfer In / Transfer Outs | 21 |
| Separations | 16 |
| Supplemental Payments / Walk Throughs | 1 |
| Overpayments | 4 |
Quarterly DES Accounts Receivable statistics for April-June 2022 (30 agencies served)
| Invoices Produced | 566 | $2,907,228 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue Recorded | 692 | $9,953,375 |
| Expenditure Reductions Recorded | 451 | $18,218,524 |
| Accounts Receivable FTEs Completing the Work | 2.07 |
Travel Tips
Have new staff or need a refresher on travel rules?
Check out these resources:
- OFM SAAM resource - Chapter 10 - Travel
- OFM Self-paced training course - OFM_Travel_Policies
- OFM Travel resources webpage - Travel Per Diem / Resources
- DES workshop materials webpage with 2021’s travel workshop training - Workshop Materials | Department of Enterprise Services (wa.gov)
As always, if you have any questions regarding travel: call SAFS AP at 360-407-8183 or email travel.safs@des.wa.gov
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Contact Us
If you would like to know what budget analyst, payroll analyst and HR business partner is assigned to your agency, see our Agency Assignments webpage.
If you would like to get contact information for DES SAFS and HR staff, see our Contacts webpage.
If you have suggestions or feedback about the Small Agency Services Bulletin, please send your comments to SmallAgencyBulletin@des.wa.gov.
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