Finance director details budget line items, one-time transfers and revenue assumptions

Finance Director Lindsay walked council through the mayor’s preliminary budget details and the administration’s assumptions at the Sept. 29 workshop.

She identified discrete line items included in the preliminary package: an ADA update to the city website estimated at about $80,000; an ITE manual for community development ($1,500); an EDDS engineering-standards update split across surface-water and streets ($25,000); the second phase of a surface-water rate study (~$70,000); and a parks operations-manager reclassification (~$30,000). Lindsay also cited rising healthcare costs — "Regions and Kaiser ... increased at the rate of 14% and 13%" — as a major driver of higher benefits expenses.

Lindsay explained past movements of funds into the general fund and presented the proposed transfers to address near-term cash needs: a $2,500,000 transfer from the reserve fund (002) into the general fund (001) and a $1,000,000 transfer to support the permitting fund. She stressed these are one-time resources and that the general fund still shows a structural deficit in ongoing revenues versus expenditures.

"We are using ending fund balances to balance," Lindsay told council, urging a phased, deliberate approach to revenue and service-level choices and recommending further analysis of fee and rate options. Staff will return with additional detail as departments present their requests in coming meetings.