Budget & Grants Analyst - Temporary

Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) • Tampa, FL

2d • $62,624 - $73,448

About The Position

Under the general direction of the Director of Budgets & Grants (or their
designee), the Budget and Grants Analyst will support the Sr. Budget & Grants
Analyst in the development of the annual operating and capital budget. This
includes the coordination with department heads to gather Level of Service (LOS)
budget requests, performs various budget related analysis, to support planning,
development, monitoring, and compliance; and maintains budget systems, and other
special research projects.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Business Administration, or related field plus
• Five (5) years of professional level accounting, budget administration, finance experience or other related experience.
• Ability to operate small office equipment, including copy machines or multi-line telephone systems, as well as a computer for Microsoft Office or other administrative and financial software.
• Valid Florida Driver’s License or be able to obtain one within in 10 days of hire of moving to the State of Florida.
• Governmental accounting principles, including operating, capital, and grant fund structures, and the ability to work within their respective constraints
• Federal grant financial management, including allowable cost determination, drawdown processes, cash match tracking, and compliance
• Operating and capital budget preparation, monitoring, and amendment processes
• Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and governmental accounting standards
• General ledger, chart of accounts literacy, and account reconciliation procedures
• ERP/financial system; Microsoft Office Suite with advanced Excel proficiency (pivot tables, financial modeling)
• Experience with financial data visualization or business intelligence tools
• Ability to develop multi-year revenue and expenditure projections, build scenario models, and clearly communicate the assumptions underlying them
• Skill in variance analysis — not just calculating differences, but identifying root causes and distinguishing between timing, structural, and one-time factors
• Ability to maintain data integrity across financial systems and flag discrepancies before they compound
• Capacity to prepare complete, accurate, and clearly written financial reports for audiences ranging from department heads to board members
• Intellectual honesty in financial reporting — presenting findings accurately regardless of whether they are favorable, and clearly distinguishing between what the data shows and what is uncertain or assumed
• Ability to recognize when a budget assumption is unrealistic and the professional confidence to raise it through appropriate channels
• Skill in maintaining strict confidentiality and exercising sound discretion with sensitive financial information
• Demonstrated tendency to ask "why" — identifying patterns in financial data, questioning inherited assumptions, and proactively surfacing issues rather than waiting to be asked
• Interest in the policy and funding environment that shapes transit finance, including an awareness of how federal, state, and local funding dynamics interact
• Experience improving or redesigning budget processes, reports, or systems — however incrementally — rather than simply maintaining them as inherited
• Effective verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to translate complex financial information for non-finance audiences
• Ability to work constructively with department heads during budget development — gathering information, explaining constraints, and diplomatically pushing back on requests that exceed available resources
• Ability to manage competing deadlines, prioritize effectively, and sustain accuracy under time pressure

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with FTA grant programs and FDOT transit funding mechanisms
• Working knowledge of federal audit requirements, including Single Audit (2 CFR 200 Subpart F)
• Experience in a transit agency, municipality, or special district where fund-level budgeting and multi-source capital programming are routine
• Familiarity with TRIM compliance, Program of Projects, or similar public budget transparency requirements
• Familiarity with governmental auditing standards and audit schedule preparation

Responsibilities

• Assist in the preparation of HART’s annual operating and capital budgets, which include projection of revenues and expenses.
• Collaborates with other departments and prepares all budget documents, system(s) updates, and communications to include annual budget calendar, executive summary, presentations, the budget books, the public hearing Board script & resolutions and the budget, payroll and financial systems.
• Generate and distribute monthly budget to actual reports to all division chiefs and directors, and provide detailed analyses and explanations of variances to administration upon request.
• Manages and updates Capital and Operating Budget to Actual and spreadsheets and reports.
• Participate in monthly and ad hoc departmental budget meetings and attend Board/Committee Meetings when necessary.
• Prepare budget-related advertisements (i.e.: HC Impact Fees and Florida Department of Revenue (TRIM) for Notice of Tax Increase and Budget Summary Ads, Program of Projects) and coordinate with HART Marketing and external agencies to ensure accuracy and compliance.
• Compile, maintain, research and interpret a variety of records, databases, logs and performs monthly and quarterly account analysis and reconciliations.
• Prepare and submit a variety of complex and/or special annual required reports, projections, budget revisions, reconciliations, communications, schedules, statements to internal departments and external agencies that include capital and operating revenue and expense projections; monthly fund balance reports by funding source, assigned project managers, activity line items; encumbrances, grants payment registers, audit schedules and other related financial reports.
• Performs other work-related duties as assigned.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level