[Adopted 4-8-1996 by Res.
No. 127-1996]
It is the commitment of the Albany County Legislature to ensure
that all firms, not-for-profit organizations and individuals providing
goods or services to the County pursuant to a contract or other purchase
agreement are paid in a timely manner.
The Albany County Legislature approves and adopts the Prompt
Payment Policy filed by the County Executive with the Legislative
Clerk on April 8, 1996.
The County Executive has implemented a prompt payment policy
for Albany County. This prompt payment policy will result in a 45-day
turnaround from claim voucher process beginning at the departmental
level to the issuance of payment by the Finance Department. In order
to have a tracking mechanism for the prompt payment policy, departments
must follow the following procedures and timetable:
A.
Department receives claim voucher from vendor and date-stamps claim
voucher.
B.
Department reviews and approves claim within five calendar days of
receipt and forwards signed claim voucher to the Comptroller's Office.
If there is an opportunity to obtain a discount for early payment,
please attach a note, prominently displayed, to the claim.
C.
Comptroller receives and date-stamps claim voucher.
D.
The Comptroller's Office audits and processes claim voucher within
10 calendar days and forwards audited claim voucher to Finance Department.
(1)
According to the Comptroller's Office, the top five reasons why a
claim is returned to the department include:
(a)
Missing signature by the department head and/or claimant. Signatures
must be originals and on the same claim page.
(b)
Incorrect budget code, code in wrong place or insufficient funds
to cover the cost of the claim.
(c)
Missing original itemized invoice, math errors on claim or invoice,
missing dates of service or invoice total greater than amount of purchase
order.
(d)
Purchasing policies not followed. Missing approved contract,
bid or purchase order procedures.
(e)
Missing social security numbers for individual or non-incorporated
businesses.
(2)
If a claim voucher is rejected at any point, the prompt payment clock
starts over again upon submission of a valid claim.
E.
The Finance Department date-stamps audited claim and pays claim within
30 calendar days.
