Small Agency Services Bulletin - August 2021
| Important Dates | Important Messages | Small Agency Financial Services News | Travel Tips | Contact Us |
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Important Dates
Aug. 27
- 2021-23 Activity Recast due to OFM
Sept. 3
- 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. 13
- 2022 Supplemental Budget Requests due to OFM. Please submit all decision package narratives to your DES Budget Analyst. We will work closely with you to review and complete the decision packages to meet OFM's deadline.
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.
Oct. 1
- New travel reimbursement rates for per diem and lodging go into effect.
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Important Messages
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resource
Keep informed via Washington State's coronavirus response website Coronavirus.wa.gov.
What to include in supplemental budget requests due to OFM on Sept. 13.
Supplemental budget requests are due to the Office of Financial Management (OFM) on Monday, September 13. Your DES Budget Analyst will need your decision packages by early-September.
Submittals should focus on the following types of budget revisions:
- Non-discretionary changes in legally-mandated caseloads or workloads.
- Necessary technical corrections to the enacted 2021-23 budgets.
- Additions or reductions to federal or private/local funding anticipated for the remainder of the biennium.
- Only the highest priority policy enhancements or resource reprogramming operating and transportation budget proposals, consistent with Governor Inslee's priority goals.
- Capital projects that address emergent needs and cannot wait for the 2023-25 capital budget.
- COVID response needs that may be addressed in the second year of the biennium with federal COVID response funds.
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Small Agency Financial Services News
Payroll and HR Services and Other Rate Structure Adjustments
DES's rate structure adjustment provides a more fair and accurate allocation of SAFS service costs to agencies. Of particular note is the change in payroll and HR services costs. The key concept in this adjustment is to move HRMS keying costs from the HR rate to the payroll rate.
A critical part of the payroll process is entering personnel changes into the HRMS system. Because at DES, the HR team performs the HRMS keying function, we have previously included these costs in the Small Agency HR rate. To better alignment costs per services, the costs related to payroll keying have been moved from the Small Agency HR rate to the Small Agency Financial Services Payroll rate. In this way, all payroll customers are paying the full cost of the payroll services. The cost allocation method for payroll services—based on the number of budgeted FTEs—remains the same.
How does this affect your DES invoices?
- Customers receiving Payroll and HR services will continue to receive two DES invoices with the appropriate rate adjustments (1) Financial Services SAFS-Payroll and (2) HR Services.
- Payroll only customers will continue to receive one DES invoice (Financial Services SAFS-Payroll) capturing HRMS keying costs.
- HR only customers receiving HRMS keying services will now receive two DES invoices (1) Financial Services SAFS-Payroll to cover HRMS keying and (2) HR Services.
- HR only customers not receiving HRMS keying will continue to receive one DES invoice (HR Services) with the appropriate rate adjustment.
As with any change, it's not uncommon for there to be a few errors the first time through. We've identified a few in the SAFS billing model and are working with OFM to correct these technical errors in the supplemental budget. Your Payroll invoice may be adjusted while that is corrected. Here are more details explaining the adjustments and invoicing amounts.
Please let us know if you have any questions pertaining to the rate adjustments.
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 |
Sarah Parker |
Heidi took a great promotional opportunity with another agency and her last day with DES was August 15. Congrats Heidi! Accounts Payable is currently recruiting to fill the position. |
| Budget |
Diann Lewallen |
Budget staff successfully submitted 21-23 biennial allotments and are now working on FY22 supplemental decision packages. |
| Payroll |
Carrie Knudson |
National Payroll Week is September 6-10. Please join us in celebrating our payroll professionals! Thank you Phuong, Whitney, Tasha, Vanno, Bona, Carrie and Louisa! |
| Accounts Receivable |
Betti Bartoldo |
Please join us in welcoming Jeff to our Accounts Receivable team! Jeff comes to us from DSHS and started with DES on August 16. He has a Bachelor's degree in accounting and is working on completing his CPA. |
| Administrative Assistance |
Danelle Guerin |
An inspirational organizational quote: For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned. -Benjamin Franklin |
DES Payroll statistics for July 2021 (40 agencies served)
| Total Employees Paid | 1,336 |
| New Hires / Rehires | 21 |
| Transfer In / Transfer Outs | 6 |
| Separations | 22 |
| Supplemental Payments / Walk Throughs | 1 |
| Overpayments | 4 |
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Travel Tips
Increasing Travel Trips
As travel starts to increase again, please continue to follow the World Health Organization tips for traveling during COVID-19.
Travel workshop
DES is planning the travel workshop this fall. Please let us know if there is anything specific you would like to learn about. Watch for more information and a workshop invite.
New travel reimbursement rates for per diem and lodging go into effect in October
If you have questions, please contact us at 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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