All organizations must formally request payment before SBS can disburse contract funds.

You must submit the following items to request payment:

• Certified Financial Statement of Actual Expenditures 
• Timesheet(s) (if you are requesting payment for personnel costs)
• Supporting documentation/General Ledger/Receipts (as required for your payment)

After receiving your payment request, SBS will review it, make any necessary changes, and process your payment request. If you submit forms that contain errors, are missing signatures, or that are not notarized, this will result in significant delays in SBS disbursing funds to your organization.

In order for your organization to receive payment, you must have submitted a completed copy of your most recent Quarterly Report to SBS and must ensure that SBS has your most updated proof of insurance on file. If you have not submitted your Quarterly Report and/or SBS does not have your current proof of insurance on file, SBS will not disburse your payment.

SBS will only process your organization’s request for payment if you have submitted all required documents. SBS recommends that you use the Payment Request Checklist to ensure that you have properly completed and submitted all necessary documents to your contract manager. You can view or download the Payment Request Checklist by clicking on the link below:

     • Payment Request Checklist

Certified Financial Statement of Actual Expenditures

The Certified Financial Statement of Actual Expenditures is a detailed account of the actual amount of contract funds that your organization spent in the previous month.

You must complete and submit a statement for every month of the contract, even if you did not spend any contract funds in a particular month. Each statement will reflect your expenditures of the previous month.

In order to avoid delays in payment, SBS strongly recommends that your organization submit an electronic version of the Certified Statement of Actual Expenditures to your contract manager for preliminary approval before you sign and notarize the document and mail it to SBS.

You must submit a copy of your organization’s General Ledger along with the Certified Financial Statement of Actual Expenditures. If your contract is in the amount of $25,000 or less, you must also submit copies of all invoices, receipts, timesheets, and other applicable supporting documentation along with the General Ledger.

You can download the Certified Statement of Actual Expenditures and instructions for completing the form by clicking on the links below:

     • Certified Financial Statement of Actual Expenditures

     • Instructions for Certified Financial Statement of Actual Expenditures

Timesheets

If you are requesting payment of contract funds for personnel costs (i.e.; salary/wages), you must submit timesheets for these personnel along with your Certified Financial Statement of Actual Expenditures. As with your Certified Financial Statements, your submitted timesheets should reflect the month prior to the month of submission.

CDBG-funded organizations must use SBS' template for timesheets.  City Council discretionary-funded organizations may use SBS' template or their own format.

You can download timesheets and instructions for completing them by clicking on the links below:

     • Timesheets

     • Instructions for Completing Timesheets 

UNALLOWABLE COSTS

Certain costs and expenses are unallowable under your contract with SBS. Your organization cannot use contract funds to pay for any unallowable costs or expenses, and SBS will not approve payment requests for unallowable costs.

The United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has established regulations that specify unallowable costs. SBS has also designated certain costs as unallowable based upon the provisions of your contract. You can view or download a list of unallowable costs by clicking on the link below:

     • Unallowable Costs

This is not an exhaustive list. For a complete list of OMB regulations and additional details, please consult OMB Circulars A-133 and A-122, which you can view or download at OMB’s website.

DEPOSITING CONTRACT FUNDS/BANK ACCOUNTS

All organizations must open a separate checking account designated exclusively for SBS funds.

Your organization must adhere to the following guidelines when using your designated SBS funds account:

• You must deposit all checks that you receive from SBS through the Avenue NYC/City Council Discretionary-funded program into the account. You may not cash these checks or endorse them to pay a bill.
• The account may be interest-bearing, if permissible by applicable law, but you must return all interest received to the City.
• You may not deposit funds other than SBS funds into the account, even if the funds are used for your program, unless the funds are a refund, repayment, or an approved loan to that account. Repayment might include, for example, a refunded telephone service deposit or depositing funds that you raised through the sale of items bought with SBS funds.

SBS strongly encourages all organizations to apply to have funds directly deposited into their account through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). Direct deposit through EFT is much safer and allows you to receive your funds more quickly than receiving funds by check. If your organization has a contract over $25,000, you are required to apply to have funds directly deposited into your account through EFT.

You can apply for direct deposit through EFT by completing the Electronic Funds Transfer Enrollment Form. You can download the form by clicking on the link below:

     • Electronic Funds Transfer Enrollment Form

You will need to send the completed EFT Enrollment Form, along with a copy of a voided check from the account that you wish to use for depositing funds, to:

     Department of Finance
     1 Centre Street, Room 727
     New York, NY 10007
     Attention: EFT Coordinator

MAKING PAYMENTS WITH CONTRACT FUNDS

You must deposit all contract funds into your Avenue NYC/City Council Discretionary-funded program account before you can use these funds to make payments.

All bills that your organization pays using funds from your contract must be paid with a written check for the necessary amount. The check must indicate an intended purpose and a specific payee. Checks written from your Avenue NYC/City Council Discretionary-funded account may not be made out to “cash.”

If an allowable expense results in a check being written from your organization’s Avenue NYC/City Council Discretionary-funded account to one of your Board members, this Board member may not be one of the endorsers of the check.

You may withdraw contract funds for petty cash purposes by writing a check made out to the individual who administers the petty cash for your organization. All petty cash expenditures must be documented with receipts identifying the time and date of the transaction. Only expenditures under $25 may be paid from the petty cash account.

RECORDS AND RECEIPTS

Your organization is required to maintain all records and receipts relating to your contract for six years after termination of the contract. Every transaction must be recorded, must have documents supporting its validity, and must be recorded on a monthly basis. Your organization’s files must include the following documentation:

• Copies of all requests for payments
• All bank statements and deposit slips
• Copies of all bills, receipts, and invoices
• All payroll records