MRSC has joined with Tracey Dunlap, Director of Finance & Administration at the City of Kirkland, and Mike Bailey, Finance Director, City of Redmond, to bring you the "Finance Advisor" column. The "Finance Advisor" will feature a new article each month with timely local government finance information and advice you can use.*

This page contains the current and all previous Finance Advisor articles:

• Some Financial Food for Thought Regarding Annexations, By Tracey Dunlap, City of Kirkland Director of Finance and Administration and Sri Krishnan, Senior Financial Analyst, September 2009
• Amending Your Budget, By Mike Bailey, Finance Director, City of Redmond, June 2009
• Property Taxes in Washington, By Glenn Olson, Deputy County Administrator, Clark County, April 2009
• How to Effectively Use Consultants - The View from Both Sides, By Tracey Dunlap, Director of Finance & Administration, City of Kirkland, February 2009
• Finance 102, By Toni Nelson, Small Cities Specialist, State Auditors Office, January 2009
• Fiscal First Aid – Financial Planning has Never Been More Important, By Mike Bailey, Finance Director, City of Redmond and Shayne Kavanagh, Senior Program Manager, GFOA, December 2008
• Long-Term Budget Strategy Considerations, By Tracey Dunlap, Director of Finance & Administration, City of Kirkland, November 2008
• Budgeting Issues - Red Flags You Should Think About, By Toni Nelson, Small Cities Specialist, State Auditors Office, October 2008
• Budgeting for Capital Improvements, By Mike Bailey, Finance Director, City of Redmond, July 2008
• Why Internal Controls are Everyone’s Job, By Tracey Dunlap, Director of Finance & Administration, City of Kirkland,, June 2008
• Internal Controls over the Preparation of the Annual Financial Report, By Toni Nelson, Small Cities Specialist, State Auditors Office, Arpil 2008
• Year-End is a good time to get a financial “checkup”, By Mike Bailey, Administrator of Finance and Information Services, City of Renton, December 2007
• Does a new law allow code cities to credit all interest earnings to the general fund?, By Mike Bailey, Administrator of Finance and Information Services, City of Renton; Toni Nelson, Small Cities Specialist, State Auditors Office; Gayla Gjertsen, Finance Director, City of Tumwater, October 2007
• Finance 101, By Toni Nelson, Small Cities Specialist, State Auditors Office, June 2007
• Strategic Planning, By Gayla Gjertsen, Finance Director, City of Tumwater, May 2007
• Technology - Good or Bad?, By Mike Bailey, Finance Director, City of Redmond, April 2007
• Annual Financial Report, By Toni Nelson, Small Cities Specialist, State Auditors Office, March 2007
• Where Eagles Dare, By Gayla Gjertsen, Finance Director, City of Tumwater, February 2007
• A Primer on Performance Audits, By Mike Bailey, Finance Director, City of Redmond, January 2007
• Year End Financial Issues, By Toni Nelson, Small Cities Specialist, State Auditors Office, December 2006
• Financial Analysis at Your Fingertips!, By Mike Bailey, Finance Director, City of Redmond, October 2006
• Budgeting, By Toni Nelson, Small Cities Specialist, State Auditors Office, September 2006
• Internal Controls, By Gayla Gjertsen, Finance Director, City of Tumwater, August 2006
• How Sales Taxes are Catching up to the Internet, Mike Bailey, Finance Director, City of Redmond, July 2006
• Second Quarter Financial Review, By Toni Nelson, Small Cities Specialist, State Auditors Office, June 2006
• Whoa! Budget Again... or Still??, By Gayla Gjertsen, Finance Director, City of Tumwater, May 2006
• Centralized Purchasing or Decentralized Purchasing, Mike Bailey, Finance Director, City of Redmond, April 2006
• Check Fraud Risks, Toni Nelson, Small Cities Specialist and Joe Dervaes, Fraud Specialist, State Auditors Office, March 2006
• Monitoring the Budget, Gayla Gjertsen, Finance Director, City of Tumwater, MRSC, January 2006
• Biennial Budgets in Washington’s Cities and Counties, Mike Bailey, City of Renton and Judy Cox, MRSC, December 2005
• What are Fund Balances and Why do we need them?, Toni Nelson, Small Cities Specialist, State Auditor's Office, November 2005
• Seeing Red?, Gayla Gjertsen, Finance Director, City of Tumwater, October 2005
• Who Makes the City and County Accounting Rules We Must Follow?, Mike Bailey Finance Director, City of Lynnwood, August 2005

Toni Nelson is the "Small Cities Specialist" for the Washington State Auditor's Office, providing both on and off site financial training and assistance to smaller cities and towns throughout the state. Ms. Nelson has been working with the Auditors office for 6 years and prior to that was the Clerk/Treasurer for a small town for 9 years. She has co-authored the "Small Cities Manual" a detailed reference guide for new clerk/treasurers on governmental accounting procedures and presents numerous training workshops throughout the state for AWC, WFOA, WMTA, WMCA and local/regional organizations such as EWFOA and SCWMCA. Ms. Nelson is also a member of and conference track coordinator for the WFOA Education Committee.

Toni can be reached at 509.228.9346 or at nelson@sao.wa.gov. For more information, see the Small Cities Assistance Program page on the State Auditor's Web site.

Mike Bailey is currently the Finance Director for the city of Redmond. Previously he worked as Administrator of Finance and Information Services for the city of Renton and as the Director of Finance for the city of Lynnwood. Mr. Bailey also served as president of the Washington Finance Officers Association and is the Vice Chair of the GFOA Budget Committee. An experienced CPA and GFOA budget reviewer, Mr. Bailey co-founded the annual Budget and Fiscal Management Workshops held each summer. Mr. Bailey conducts numerous workshops and has authored various articles on local government finance, including Effective Budgeting in Washington State Cities published by the Association of Washington Cities.

Glenn Olson is the Deputy County Administrator for Clark County. He has been in Clark County since 1997, serving in various leadership positions during his tenure there. Previously Mr. Olson served 15 years in the Governors Office of Financial Management overseeing budget forecasts. Mr. Olson chaired the Washington State Public Works Board for Governor Locke. Currently he is the gubernatorial appointee representing local governments on the Select Committee for Pension Policy and on the Law Enforcement Officers and Fire Fighters Plan 2 (LEOFF2) Board, and he is the president of the Washington County Administrators Association.

*The Articles appearing in the "Finance Advisor" column represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Municipal Research & Services Center.