City Treasurer Job Description
The city treasurer is often also considered the city's director of finance, and for the most part these titles are interchangeable. The role of a city treasurer is often managerial, where responsibility for guiding the city's finance department is the main activity.
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Qualifications
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Qualifications to be a city treasurer vary from city to city, but minimum qualifications usually include: a bachelor's degree in some financial area, valid driver's license, CPA certification, and minimum five years of experience. Some cities may require far more, such as an MBA, familiarity with city, state, and federal statutes, more experience, or experience of a certain type.
Primary Financial Responsibilities
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The ability to manage a finance department necessitates familiarity with both financial practices and government regulation. Record and portfolio keeping of the city's investments, incomes and expenditures is one of the largest day-to-day tasks of the treasurer, seconded by collecting those incomes--usually taxes and city service fees. Financial reporting is also a large duty, as statements on the city's financial standing are needed by a variety of other offices, and many cities and states have laws requiring a city treasurer to provide monthly reports. The city treasurer may also be responsible for conducting the payroll of city employees, and the collection of delinquent fees and taxes.
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Primary Managerial Responsibilities
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A city treasurer is usually responsible for the hiring, training, evaluating and firing of staff in a city's finance department. Because of this, many larger cities will require managerial experience in addition to financial experience, as well as a certain degree of familiarity with standard human resources practices. The city treasurer may often work in close contact with other city officials.
Appointed Position
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In some cases, the city treasurer is an appointed position, rather than a position open to competitive hiring. In these cases, the treasurer is often a member of the mayor's cabinet.
Related Positions
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The city treasurer, when not a member of a mayor's cabinet, usually belongs to either the city council or the city executive team. A city's council and executive team often consist of the city's treasurer, manager, mayor, clerk, controller, engineer, attorney and secretary. There are also several other important positions located under the city treasurer, such as the deputy city treasurer.
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References
- Photo Credit finance image by Chad McDermott from Fotolia.com
