Round Rock and Pflugerville Finance Directors
Round Rock and Pflugerville Finance Directors
Tuesday, 07 November 2006
Cindy Demers, Round Rock Finance Director
Cindy Demers has long had ties to Round Rock. She has lived in the city since 1977, graduating from Round Rock High School in 1985.
Staying in Central Texas for her college education, she began at Concordia University to obtain her Bachelor of Arts in accounting, finishing with her MBA at St. Edward’s University.
After beginning as a certified public accountant in 1992 for the city, she became Accounting Manager in 1995 before working as the assistant to the City Manager in 2002. Demers stepped into her current position as Round Rock’s Finance Director in 2003.
Q. What are your duties as Finance Director?
A. I work a lot with financial planning, looking at the annual budget and the utility fund. At this department we look at the 5 to 10 year strategic plan and apply it to the budget. We do all the accounting, purchasing, payroll and utility, the financing of projects and handle the budget office. That is really our main function. What I think is good about Round Rock is we get involved at the outset of a project.
Q. What are some interesting aspects of this year’s budget?
A. I think the continuing of our Financial Management Policy is important. It is so key for us when we are considering our revenue and expenditures. (Because of it) we’re going to pay off some of our debt early and save around $1 million. In our economy, we are really diversifying our revenue base with the new IKEA and the Premium Outlets and we are starting to see the fruit of the council’s work with it. I also think the Ten-Year Plan is a highlight of our budget. We took the Ten-Year Plan process and were able to translate it into our budget.
Q. How do you balance the priorities of city departments and the City Council?
A. We, as a staff, can understand the council priorities because we meet with them every other year to talk about it. The last time we met was in 2005 at the council retreat. That gives a sense of what our priorities are. It also gives departments the opportunity to hear the council’s direction. We have good communication. The departments can then bounce their needs off what the council’s priorities are.
Q. What would you describe as your most important duty?
A. The most important part of my job is fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers and making sure their money gets spent well. That can incorporate different things at different times, including working with the Ten-Year Plan.
Q. What is your favorite stress-reliever or pastime?
A. Outside of my time here, I am probably exercising. I was working a lot on the Danskin Triathlon this summer. That is key to keeping everything manageable. When I start on a three-mile run, I am thinking about work, but by the time I am finished, it is fine.
Education: MBA, St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas
Family: Married to David Demers. She also has a pet cat named Jinx.
Contact Information: 218-5435, Email: cdemers@round-rock.tx.us
Lauri Gillam, Pflugerville Finance Director & Assistant City Manager
Lauri Gillam gained her first experience in municipal government while working for finance and planning & zoning departments in Colorado and Wyoming. She came to Pflugerville as the city secretary/finance director after answering a help-wanted advertisement in October 1993.
Born and raised in Colorado, she now has a heart for the community where she works, which she describes as having a “small-town atmosphere.”
“I would like to continue working with the City Council and city staff to help make Pflugerville an even greater place to live and work,” she said. “There are so many exciting opportunities with the opening of Lake Pflugerville and SH 130 and SH 45.”
Q. What are your duties as Finance Director?
A. I am both the finance director and the assistant city manager, so I have a lot of different jobs, but as finance director I deal with every dollar that comes through here. I do that with a staff that helps me run all the numbers. We do the budget, investments, the payroll and everything.
Q. What are some interesting aspects of this year’s budget?
A. We were able to lower the tax rate, and here in Pflugerville we have relatively high property taxes in proportion to the revenue that comes from our sales taxes. So for us to be able to lower that rate and still keep a quality level of funding in our overall budget, that is pretty exciting.
Q. How do you balance the priorities of city departments and the City Council?
A. As for the different priorities, our job as a staff is to follow the council’s direction. They are the elected officials who represent the voters. If we learn the council has a priority, that becomes a staff priority. That is what I consider my job. The finance director is there to gather information so council can make an informed decision. We take all the information we can find, organize it and present it to the council.
Q. What would you describe as your most important duty?
A. My most important duty as a finance director is managing this department, its resources and personnel—mostly the personnel. I want to make it a great department to work in. We have 10 other staff and they do the bulk of the work. We just have a wonderful staff in Pflugerville and I am thrilled to manage them.
Q. What is your favorite stress-reliever or pastime?
A. Laughing. We have 11 people on top of each other in this office, and we work very closely. There are advantages to that. We have 11 minds together and we have fun with that. Finance can be funny, believe it or not. I also like to watch baseball or play in the symphony. I play the violin. Both baseball and music; that is what I am probably doing if I am not in here.
Contact Information: 251-3076, Email: finance@cityofpflugerville.com
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