Policy & Procedures for Cash Receipts

Nature and Purpose

Establish accountability for cash and negotiable items received and accelerate the deposit of these receipts.

Accountability

Personnel involved in cash collections and deposits should be trained to understand the cash receipts system. In addition, the staff has a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers in its county as well as to the taxpayers in the State of Georgia for these public monies. Often, staff who collect and deposit monies also may be personally liable for the money in their custody.

Accelerate Deposit of Receipts

Uniform collection procedures throughout the region to facilitate the timely deposit of cash receipts.

Specific Cash Receipt Procedures

Fines
All fines assessed and collected on overdue library materials should be properly recorded in the PINES system. At the end of the day, total fines collected should be recorded on your Daily Cash Collections sheet and forwarded to the regional business office. A daily listing of fines/fees waived or refunded should be kept and attached to the Daily Cash Collections sheet. At NO time shall staff “exempt charges” in the PINES without prior approval from Administration.

Checks received for payment of fines are to be stamped “For Deposit Only, Athens Regional Library System”. Under NO circumstances are these checks to be cashed.

Copy Money, Computer Printing Charges, Laminator Fees, Meeting Room Fees, Out of Region Charges and Library Card Replacement Fees
Monies collected for these various fees should be recorded on your Daily Cash Collections sheet and forwarded to the regional business office.

Each library should determine how often cash is collected from the public copy machines. At a minimum this should be done once a week.

Checks received for payment for these fees are to be stamped “For Deposit Only, Athens Regional Library System”. Under NO circumstances are these checks to be cashed.

Lost / Damaged Library Materials Fee
Monies collected for lost or damaged materials should be recorded in the PINES system. At the end of the day, total lost / damage fees should be recorded on your Daily Cash Collections sheet and forwarded to the regional business office. Additionally, a Lost / Damaged Materials form should be completed and submitted. All information on the form is necessary for proper removal and/or notes to be made in the cataloging system.

If a patron finds and returns the lost materials within 90 days they will be issued a refund check. A Lost Book Refund Request form should be completed and a copy given to the patron as a receipt. The original form should be submitted to the business office where the check will be prepared and mailed to the patron.

Checks received for payment of lost / damaged materials are to be stamped “For Deposit Only, Athens Regional Library System”. Under NO circumstances are these checks to be cashed.

Gifts and Memorials
Monies received in the form of gifts or memorials should be recorded on your Daily Cash Collections sheet and forwarded to the regional business office. Gift funds will be credited to your local gift account and must be used as specified by the donor. (Each library in the system has a separate fund where gifts are accumulated. All gifts are reported quarterly to each library board.)

Patrons giving a gift in memory / honor of someone should be given a “Honor a Loved One” form to complete. The completed form should be forwarded to the business office along with the gift money.

Undesignated gifts can be spent as decided upon by the branch manager and branch consultant. However, these funds may not be used for the purchase of food.

Checks received as gifts should to be stamped “For Deposit Only, Athens Regional Library System.” Under NO circumstances are these checks to be cashed.

Friends of the Library Gifts and Memberships
Money, in the form of gifts or membership dues, received for the Friends of your library should be forwarded once a week to the treasurer of that organization. Since this transaction is not entered in Fundware, write a receipt for the customer and keep a copy for the branch records. At NO TIME should Friends money be held at the library for more than a week.

Sale of Materials in Library
Library materials that are withdrawn from the collection remain library property. In addition, as stated in the Athens Regional Library System collection development policy, all materials given to the library become library property. These materials may be donated to your local friends organization for resale after the library has reviewed the materials based on selection criteria.

Proceeds from the sale of materials either withdrawn from the collection or donated should be forwarded to the regional business office. These proceeds will be credited to your local gift account and may be spent as decided upon by the manager and branch consultant. However these funds may not be used to purchase food.

Checks received for materials purchased should be stamped “for Deposit Only, Athens Regional Library.” Under NO circumstances are these checks to be cashed.

If a local friends organization wishes to sell materials in the library it is their responsibility to provide the materials. It is also their responsibility to collect the sale proceeds. As stated above, at NO TIME should friends money to held at the library for more than a week.

Delivery of Cash Receipts
All cash receipts should be delivered to the regional business office on a regular basis. This delivery schedule shall be designated by the business manager based on accumulation of funds at each library.

4/16/98