Committee reviews Davenport recommendation: staff to draft proposal to raise reserves to 13% of AGR

The committee shifted to the second agenda item — reserve policy — where staff summarized current guidance and the Davenport recommendation.

"Our reserves... should be at least 10% of the county's adjusted governmental revenues," Mr. Smith said in background remarks, noting the metric's breadth and the Charter limit that the unrestricted general fund balance cannot exceed 5% of prior-year tax revenues. Referring to Davenport, Mr. Smith said, "They were recommending that we increase our total reserves to 13%." The Davenport approach would keep an unrestricted reserve and the revenue stabilization fund at 10% of AGR combined, add a new 2% risk-mitigation reserve and a 1% capital reserve to reach 13% total.

Council members discussed implementation timing and trade-offs: whether to phase increases in over multiple years, how to evaluate supplemental budget requests against higher reserve targets, and whether the RSF law should be amended to avoid mandatory contributions that are unnecessary when targets are already exceeded. Chair asked Mr. Smith to draft a proposal/request for the full council to consider increasing reserve targets and clarifying policy language; the committee agreed to ask staff to prepare that draft.