School district welcomes new money manager

EAST COUNTY — As Rebecca Roberts sat in her new office, her chin rested on her knuckles and her eyes occasionally shifted toward the clear skies hanging over downtown Bradenton.

“I can see this new view becoming distracting,” Roberts said, laughing, as she took one last look at the spreadsheet that demanded her full attention Halloween morning.

Her wooden desk wasn’t decorated, yet, with family photos of her husband of 35 years or her two sons. After all, she just moved in.

After six months as the Manatee County School District’s director of finance, Superintendent Rick Mills chose Roberts as the district’s new chief financial officer. The School Board approved Roberts for the position at its meeting Oct. 28.

Roberts replaces former CFO Michael Boyer, who retired in June, and interim CFO Conley Weiss.

“During her time with the Manatee District, Rebecca has proven that she has the knowledge, abilities and leadership skills to serve as our CFO,” Mills said.

The mother of two has been utilizing her experience working with Weiss and other members of the district to guide her in her new role.

Throughout the summer, Roberts worked with the budget committee, along with Weiss, Director of Budget Heather Jenkins and Deputy Superintendent of Operations Don Hall to help dig the school district out of a financial hole that was $8.6 million deep.

They carefully monitored where the district spent dollars and why.

“We used close cost containment,” Roberts said. “We literally watched every dollar that left the district.”
Roberts also worked with Weiss to develop the district’s 2014-15 school year budget, which projects a year-end fund balance of $16.5 million, Mills said.

She remembered more than a few long nights spent crossing out budget line items and examining which costs could be cut.

Weiss stressed the importance of one-time expenditures, rather than long-range expenses that the district couldn’t afford in its financially fragile state.

Although the district ended the 2013-14 school year with an estimated $6 million surplus and its fund balance continued to boast positive numbers, it couldn’t afford costs that would dig into the district’s pockets for years.

The skills Weiss taught her over the last few months gave her a fully stocked tool belt, she said.

Planning for future school years by bulking up a rainy day fund for fiscal disasters, such as costly audit findings, are lessons Roberts plans to continue as the district’s CFO.

“The district can’t overextend its resources,” Roberts said. “We need to make sure we have the revenue to support projects, while also having a margin in case another financial situation occurred.”

About a week into her new role as the final set of eyes to look at financial decisions the district makes, Roberts is already creating plans she hopes are fail-proof.

Roberts is working to implement a new, more rigorous training program for the accounting department. She hopes the more in-depth knowledge the department’s members will learn will help equip them for out-of-the-ordinary situations.

During her tenure with the city of Baltimore as its chief accountant, she handled sources of revenue and reviewed financial transactions.

“Here as the CFO, children in classrooms are affected,” Roberts said. “In Baltimore, citizens of a big city were at stake. But, what I do is business. And, the business functions the same; the guidelines are the same and the skill sets are the same. The biggest change for me is working in the sunshine.”

Rebecca Roberts
Fun fact: Roberts has visited 14 states and lived in Japan, while her husband served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Hobbies: She enjoys refinishing furniture and writing fiction stories. She calls her stories her children, but she hasn’t had time to work on her stories lately because of her work schedule.

Resume: Roberts was the director of finance for the school district six months prior to receiving the CFO position. She has also served as the city of Baltimore’s chief accountant. director of financial reporting and accounting compliance at ASARCO and vice president of operations for Lancaster Foods.