Sonoma City welcomes new Finance Director Prapti Aryal

The City of Sonoma went without a permanent finance director for more than a year before Prapti Aryal came on board in May. Aryal has since begun working with city management to address the deficit, oversee the budget and update investment policies.

Aryal has settled into her position and begun taking on the challenges Sonoma faces. She is responsible for preparing and managing Sonoma’s budget of approximately $43 million, overseeing a staff of three accounting members, and collaborating with the city’s management team, council members, department heads and consultants.

Aryal’s experience includes her most recent position of finance director for the City of Clayton where she managed an $8 million budget for operating and capital expenditures, a job that required skills in leadership, financial planning, budget management and team development.

“I love challenges. Plus Sonoma is a bit of a bigger city, so we have a little bit more resources here, which I love,” Aryal said.

City Manager David Guhin said there have been various iterations of the oversight in the Finance Department, from an administrative services officer responsible for finance and human resources, then a finance manager who oversaw the department when the former moved into a new position.

“Both those positions have been vacant for over a year, so we had an interim finance director fill the role while we went through the 2023-23 budget process last year, then recruited for the current finance director,” Guhin said.

In Aryal’s role, she will work with city management to provide the City Council with quarterly budget updates.

The finance director said she believes a city should be transparent about finances, not only to the city council, but to the community. By providing quarterly updates, city staff will help keep the community informed.

“I feel taking [quarterly updates] to the council and letting the community know what we’re doing and what our plan is, is very important for any city or any organization I would say,” Aryal said.

“So that people know we’re doing a good job and if there’s any feedback, that’s the time where we’ll know what the community wants and what the council wants. So I think it’s a great idea,” she said.

In addition, her top priorities include updating the city’s audits and former investment policies.

“Once the audit is caught up, it will be more accurate and we’ll be more confident in talking about exact numbers. Because right now we’re doing the audit for 2021-22, because we’re behind,” Aryal said.

Modernizing the city’s investment policy is a priority for Aryal as it has not been updated since 2003. The finance director said she understands the city wants to ensure they are utilizing what tools they have and gaining the best interest possible.

“Once we have an investment policy it will clearly tell us what we can invest and what the rating should be, so that gives us a guide to invest and make money out of it,” Aryal said. “So it is very important, because every few years, things change ― the economy changes.”

In addition, Aryal plans to work with city management in the capital improvement plan to address the deficit. Aryal said the proposed sales tax increase measure, which City Council approved to appear on the Nov. 5 ballot, would provide a positive impact on city revenue.

“That would really help the city to have a balanced budget and provide services to the community.”

Aryal said city staff are also in the process of doing a comprehensive fee, overhead cost allocation analysis and Nexus study for the impact fee for Public Facilities and Services.

“This study will help us maintain fiscal sustainability and foster responsible growth management,” she said.

Aryal brings more than eight years of progressive experience in municipal finance to her new role in economic management for the city.

“Even though this is a bigger city compared to my last position at Clayton ― in terms of budget, most of my experience was in the city of Napa where I touched many things. So I was up for the challenge and excited for it.”

In Napa, Aryal was senior accountant for a citywide resource planning implementation project, where she led several teams and oversaw procurement, accounts payable, human resources/payroll and finances.

Guhin said he is pleased to have Aryal on board as Sonoma has needed a permanent finance director throughout Guhin’s time as City Manager, a role he took on in 2023.

“From this point forward, we’re going to be taking a whole different approach to managing our budget; which is quarterly updates, mid-year check-ins, and starting the budget process much earlier,” Guhin said. “So we’ll have the resource in place to really provide the council the information so that we can make some decisions throughout the year.

“So that is a big change for us. And I think it’s important that we have the position in place and I’m extremely excited.”

Aryal lives in Fairfield with her family, including her husband, their two daughters, ages 11 and 7, and their pet dogs Mochi and Donut. In her free time, Aryal enjoys traveling and being with her family.

“I like to travel around the world, I wish I had more time to. I just want to be inclusive and I want to show my kids that people are amazing everywhere, that’s my motto to be honest. And to just respect everyone’s cultures and respect the differences.”

You can reach Staff Writer Emma Molloy at [email protected].