WETUMPKA, Ala. (WSFA) – Over the past 25 years, Wetumpka’s population has grown nearly 25%, bringing more revenue and more complex financial needs to the city. To handle that expansion, municipal officials have created a comptroller position to oversee the city’s finances.
“The budget has grown to the point now we need someone who has the expertise in dealing with funding and managing funds to lead that,” Mayor Jerry Willis said.
Willis, who has served as mayor for 17 years, said the new role is intended to ensure careful stewardship of taxpayer money as Wetumpka continues to expand.
Tay Knight, the city’s new comptroller, was chosen for the post after serving as executive director of the Family Sunshine Center. Knight previously spent 24 years at CPA firms in Montgomery. She has been on the job just over a week.
Knight says a comptroller is similar to a chief financial officer; it’s the person in charge of the finances.
“Our staff members have been pulling double and triple duty in helping make a lot of that economic development happen, and that growth happen, and so I think with me coming on board, it helps to spread the work to some extent, but then also lend some expertise,” Knight said.
Though she has been on the job for just a short time, Knight has big goals for her first year.
“What I would love to see is a continuation of what the city has already started, which is five-year capital improvement plans and kind of expanding those to where they include more than just infrastructure,” she said.
City leaders say the comptroller position is part of a larger effort to aid Wetumpka’s economic development and municipal budget growth.
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