Finance & Corporate Services

Finance and Corporate Services is comprised of the following business areas:

Archives

Bylaw 7400

The City of Richmond Archives is governed by Corporate Records Management Program Bylaw 7400 which came into effect July 29, 2002. Bylaw 7400 sets out the terms and scope of activities of the City of Richmond Archives as the official repository for the inactive public and private records of enduring and historic value to the City of Richmond and the community as a whole. It is the work of the City of Richmond Archives to preserve and protect these records and to make them accessible to City officials and the public.

The Archives acquires both public and private records by scheduled transfer, gift, bequest, purchase, exchange or any other action by which title to the material passes to the Archives, with the understanding that ownership is held in trust for future generations.

You are encouraged to follow the link to Bylaw 7400 and read it in its entirety as it provides a picture of the stewardship the City of Richmond exercises over City government and community records during their lifetime. For more information, visit the City Archives section.

Visit Privacy and Disclaimers for information about:

• Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOI) Copyright
• Privacy Policy, Disclaimer & Link Policy
• Making a Claim With the City
  

City of Richmond Archives 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond,
British Columbia, V6Y 1R9 archives@richmond.ca 604-247-8305

 

Business Services brings together a variety of financial and corporate services to meet the needs of Richmond's residents and businesses and to provide support to the City's corporate operations.

The Business Services Department is responsible for performing five key functions that are outlined below.

The following units serve the needs of Richmond residents and businesses:

• Customer Service: is the first multi-channel point of contact for many City services and acts as a resource and referral centre. It takes in applications and issues permits, answers inquiries and manages building permit records.
• Economic Development: facilitates the attraction, expansion and retention of businesses in Richmond, serves as a liaison between businesses and City departments or other government agencies and resources, and develops programs and policies to support the local economy.

The following units support the City’s corporate operations:

• Business Advisory Services: systematically undertakes internal reviews to audit, evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, financial controls, and governance processes.
• Business Improvement: assists internal departments in reviewing their business operations and processes, and helps to identify and implement opportunities to improve operational performance.
• Risk Management: supports the organization’s identification, analysis, evaluation and treatment of risks associated to the City’s assets, programs and operations. Manages the City’s insurance program and provides risk and insurance related advisory services.
  

Customer Service Centre

The Finance Department is responsible for the financial well-being of the City, through the provision of effective and reliable financial advice, services and information to Council, staff and the public. Revenues exceed $575 million annually from various sources including property taxes, utility payments, service charges, and senior government grants. The Finance Department oversees the expenditure of these funds through the annual budget process.

In addition to collecting property taxes, which are administered by the City, the Finance Department is also responsible for collecting taxes for other authorities, including School Taxes, B.C. Assessment, Municipal Finance Authority, TransLink (transit) and Metro Vancouver.

Financial functions also include accounts payable, purchasing goods and services, controlling inventory, payroll, provision of property tax information, treasury services, financial planning and analysis, financial reporting and administrative services.

Related Topics: About Finance & Taxes

Accounts Payable

The Accounts Payable Section is responsible for making payments on behalf of the City. Accounts Payable include all amounts due and owing by the City, except payroll expenses. All City accounts shall be paid by the negotiated due date, after the proper invoice has been submitted and receipt of acceptable materials or services has been verified.

Administration

This section provides a wide variety of administrative assistance including clerical, specialized and technical support functions to the Director, Managers and staff of the Finance Department, scheduling meetings, workshop and travel arrangements, coordination of reports to Council/Committees, coordination of special projects, maintenance of the department's records management system in accordance with established rules, regulations and policies and responding to inquiries from the staff and public.

Financial Planning and Analysis

The Financial Planning and Analysis section is responsible for the preparation of the five-year financial plan. This plan consolidates the City's Operating, Utility and Capital budgets. The section's focus is to monitor the budgets and administer processes to meet the needs of the community, City Council and other City divisions.

Financial Reporting

The Financial Reporting section is responsible for preparation of quarterly reports, year-end reports, financial statements and annual reports. This section also provides analysis and support to co-ordinate corporate-wide initiatives such as business planning and other strategic initiatives.

Related Topics: Annual Reports

Financial Systems

The Financial Systems Section focuses on increasing operational efficiencies and improving internal financial controls. The Section streamlines the way staff uses the organization's automated financial systems by finding solutions to business process issues. Financial Systems contributes change management and project management expertise to process improvement initiatives and system implementations.

Payroll

The Payroll Section is responsible for the accurate and timely preparation of employee pay in accordance with Federal and Provincial legislation, WCB and various collective agreements and City of Richmond policies. The section is also responsible for the remittance and reporting of statutory deductions, preparation of T4's and Record of Employment, as well as remittance and reporting of other non-statutory deductions including pension and union dues.

Purchasing

The Purchasing Section purchases and secures materials, supplies, equipment and services required by the City including contracts for all non-inventory items, construction contracts and consulting services.

Related Topics: Tenders, Quotations and Proposals

Stores

The Stores section purchases and maintains all inventory requirements and associated products for Public Works operations including automotive and garage related supplies. The City's central stores is located at 5599 Lynas Lane.

Tangible Capital Assets

The Tangible Capital Assets section is responsible for the preparation and the administration of the annual capital budget and the capital budget amendment process. This section maintains the asset sub ledger with a net book value of over $2.5 billion and prepares the quarterly capital project report for Council.

Taxes

The Tax section is responsible for administering the collection of City revenues, including property taxes, flat rate and metered utility (water, sewer, garbage/recycling) charges; grants-in-lieu of taxes; local improvement charges; and the payment of taxes collected for other taxing authorities. This section also prepares and conducts the annual tax sale auction to recover unpaid taxes and provides information to the public regarding property assessments, property taxes, utility charges, account balances and property tax deferment.

Related Topics: Homeowner Property Information

Treasury and Financial Services

The Treasury Services Section effectively manages highly cyclical cash flows ensuring adequate funds are available to fulfil the strategic plans and initiatives undertaken by the City. Additionally, all sources and inflows of revenues are identified and allocated to key capital projects.

The role of Treasury Services is to ensure that the City enjoys a competitive rate of return on investments. This rate of return is compared on a regular basis to other municipal and industry benchmarks. The Treasury Services Section works in collaboration with other service Sections within the Finance and Corporate Services Division to ensure the fiscal responsibility and stewardship of the City's assets.

Mike Ching
Director, Finance finance@richmond.ca 604-276-4137

 

The IT Department is part of the Finance and Corporate Services Division. The Department works in partnership with other City divisions to make the City efficient and cost effective. The Director oversees the operations of the Division.

Summary & Highlights

The Information Technology Department (IT) provides Business Analysis, Project Management and IT Technical Services.

The IT Department is the centralized resource at the City of Richmond for providing computers, internet, telecom and mailroom functions and processing of City billings and large volume printing. The Department actively supports the network infrastructure, hardware, peripherals and software for:

• 100 servers & a variety of appliances
• 1600 user profiles
• 30 site locations
• 1100 PC’s
• 11 Enterprise Applications
• 55 desktop applications
• a few customer service applications
• 2000 telephones
• 390 wireless communication devices

In addition to managing and securing all of the City’s critical data and financial records, IT also hosts and maintains the:

• City Website
• City Intranet
• GIS System
• Program Registration System

IT Office Systems and Operations

Responsible for developing the City’s office systems collaboration strategies and provides service and support for IT Office Systems via three integrated teams:

IT Help Desk

The IT Help Desk is the first point of contact for City Staff computer and telecom issues. The Help Desk records and solves client requests for service. Requests that cannot be solved by the Help Desk are forwarded to the appropriate IT support team.

Desktop Services

Provides hardware and software installation and support for desktop workstations, printers and handheld devices.

IT Operations

Responsible for large volume printing, mail processing, mail sorting and distribution, and backup media handling.

Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure

Provides the infrastructure for the City’s communications and applications systems. The section is divided into three teams:

Infrastructure

Responsible for the City’s Network connecting City Hall, the Public Works Yard, and over 25 other City sites. Maintains the servers for the City’s applications.

Technical Applications

Design and maintenance of the City’s document management, email, backup systems and network security.

Telecom

Provides and maintains telephone services including lines switches and handsets, cell phones, and blackberries. The team also manages voice-mail and many other specialised voice-processing systems.

GIS, Web, and Database Services

Provides service and support for:

Geographic Information System

Implementation, support and maintenance of GIS system. The GIS is a central database of spatial (location defined) data accessible in an interactive map format.

Web Services

Provides maintenance and management of the City website as well as the City’s Intranet site for City Staff.

Database Services

Provides installation, configuration, monitoring, and maintenance support for the City’s 36 Oracle and 14 SQL Server database instances. Provide technical installation and support for the PeopleSoft Financials and Human Capital Management systems.

Enterprise Application Development

This section provides technical and business analysis services and support for computer applications systems in human resource, payroll, time and labour, point of sale, accounting, property, permit, licensing, tax, utility, operations management, community and facility registration and parking ticket management. The section also provides software development for voters and council referrals and support for payment and property information available via Interactive Voice Response, or Internet.

IT Administration

Provides administration services to the Information Technology Division and manages the following:

Project Management Office

Develops and promotes an organization Project Management process using PMI Methodologies.

Security Assessment

Plans, leads and executes risk assessments to determine the security impact on the City’s data and infrastructure using ISO17799 standards.

Asset Management

Provides a corporate wide Information Technology Asset Management strategy
 

The City Clerk's Office is part of the Legal & Legislative Services Division and serves as a secretariat for Council and its Committees. The City Clerk's Office performs administrative functions including:

• agenda preparation
• recording of minutes,
• processing and certifying by-laws
• record management and distribution of records
• making records available to the public

The Clerk's Office is responsible for the preservation of all Council and Committee records, through a records management and archives system which documents the history of Richmond.

The City Clerk is responsible for the administration of civic and school district elections and for the conducting of public referenda.

The City Clerk's Office is the initial contact for members of the community wishing to access the City administration and government on a wide variety of issues, including: processing citizens' petitions, complaints and requests to Council, and processing requests for information under the Freedom of Information & Protection of Privacy legislation.

Claudia Jesson
Director, City Clerk's Office 
cityclerk@richmond.ca 604-276-4007 

 

The Real Estate Services Department acts in an advisory capacity on real estate and development matters to City Council, senior management, internal departments, and the public. The department is responsible for third party negotiations on the majority of real estate matters as they may affect Development Applications, Parks, Engineering and Transportation.

In addition, the Real Estate Services Department is responsible for the overall Land Strategy of the City including asset management, policy, acquisitions, dispositions and day to day management of strategic lands, leases and other agreements held by the City.

Related Topics:

• Right of Way
• Tax Sales
• Richmond Interactive Map (RIM)

Kirk Taylor
Director, Real Estate Services 
RealEstate@richmond.ca 604-276-4212 

 

The City maintains communication with the Board and management of the Vancouver Airport Authority through the Finance and Corporate Services Division.

Vancouver Airport Authority is a community-based, not for profit organization, that manages Vancouver International Airport (YVR) based in Richmond, BC. The Airport Authority has no shareholders and reinvests all earnings into airport development and service improvements.

The City of Richmond Nominee to the Vancouver Airport Authority Board is Dan Nomura.

The City of Richmond Liaison to the Vancouver International Airport Authority is Jerry Chong. The Liaison function is in place to coordinate communication between the City and the Airport Authority.

For Airport services and information, please contact the Airport Authority directly:

Vancouver International Airport Authority
PO Box 23750
Airport Postal Outlet
Richmond, BC
V7B 1Y7
604-207-7077

Visit the Vancouver International Airport YVR website for more Airport information.

Related Information:

• Airport Noise
• OCP: Jobs and Business - Airport