City administrator briefs council on proposed 2016–2017 budget; capital requests total about $1.6 million

City Administrator Susan Robertson told the Sun Valley City Council on June 30 that the complete proposed 2016–2017 budget was now available to the Council and public and walked through revenue and expenditure summaries, fund balances and assumptions.

“The complete proposed budget was now available to the Council and public,” Robertson said, noting the City currently exceeds its policy to retain 16 weeks of budgeted revenue. Robertson said a salary survey is under way but not complete. Council Member Michelle Griffith pressed for capital expenditures to be presented together and for a plan to manage what she called an unsustainable capital spending rate; Robertson agreed to prepare a breakout of the roughly $1.6 million in capital requests by department. Robertson also recommended closing the Debt Service Fund and transferring its balances into the General Fund; staff will review transfer formulas and other fund‑structure issues before final decisions.

Robertson described conservative revenue assumptions for Local Option Tax and gas franchise receipts (the latter calculated at approximately 3% of gross receipts) and noted the contingency line remained at $50,000 though staff estimated there could be about $250,000 available to return to unassigned fund balance in fiscal year 2018.