Fiscal Note and ATS Review
Summary Tips
- Fiscal notes are required for all legislation (resolutions and ordinances).
- Fiscal notes are added by Finance, once the legislation has been routed to them for review.
- You must manually start the process to send the file to Finance, using the Approval Tracking tab in Legistar.
- Starting the sequence in Legistar notifies the budget analyst, who reviews the file and enters the fiscal note.
NOTE: Fiscal notes drafted outside of Finance must be approved by Finance. When this occurs, the budget analyst may replace the proposed text with “Fiscal Note Pending” while being reviewed. Pending status indicates incomplete fiscal note; conversely, a completed fiscal note indicates approval by Finance.
Background information
An essential step in the legislative process is submitting new files for fiscal review. Financial review of a legislative file ensures that the file includes an assessment of the fiscal impact of the proposed legislation.
All new ordinances and resolutions (as well as any new versions of these files) must go through Finance review and receive a fiscal note per APM 1-3. This step typically occurs prior to the introduction of the file to the Common Council but can occur after introduction – for example, when the file is introduced by title only – or when there is a new version of the file that is created later in the process.
When a file is undergoing fiscal review, the status of the file changes to ATS Review in Legistar as shown below.
During ATS Review, certain functions of the file are temporarily deactivated until fiscal review is complete.
Files in ATS Review:
- cannot be pulled onto a newly generated agenda
- will not link in draft agendas already created
- do not appear in Legistar web search results
Because of this reduced functionality, it is important to carefully time fiscal review so that other essential legislative activities are not negatively affected.
Instructions
Once you are finished entering information for a legislative file in Legistar, follow these steps to start the fiscal note process.
Deadline: Wednesday 8:00 am the week before Council meeting
- Select on the Approval Tracking tab in Legistar.
- Select Add Sequence and select the name of the appropriate reviewer from the list.
An updated list of analyst assignments is available on Employeenet - Select Start and then select Yes to confirm.
The file changes to ATS Review status which initiates the workflow and sends a notification to the selected budget analyst. The file will remain in the status of ATS review during the fiscal note process.
Timing of Fiscal Review
- Submit new files for fiscal review by 8:00 am the Wednesday before the Council meeting. This timing ensures that fiscal review is complete and the file is reactivated prior to creation of the first draft of the agenda.
- If a new file is not ready by Wednesday at 8:00 am, delay approval tracking (fiscal review) until after 3:00 pm, to ensure that the file is active when the first draft is being generated. Also consider notifying the Council Office. This ensures that any possible delays in the draft agenda schedule do not prevent the file from being included in the draft agenda.