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Total General Fund Public Works functions are budgeted to decrease, due to moving the Vehicle Transfers
<br />and Street Maintenance Transfers into a separate levy outside the General Fund (see Capital Expenses
<br />section below). Two additional staff are recommended to be split between Streets and Parks. If comparing
<br />with the capital set-asides included, it would be an 18% increase.
<br />
<br />Dept # Department Name 2022 Actual 2023 Actual 2024 Budget 2025 Requested Change
<br />3100 Streets 1,902,740 1,450,333 1,812,018 1,175,752 -35%
<br />5200 Parks & Recreation 284,752 412,051 455,204 689,731 52%
<br /> Total Public Works (GF) 2,187,491 1,862,384 2,267,222 1,865,483 -18%
<br /> Vehicle & Equipment Levy 212,000
<br /> Street Maint Levy 600,000
<br /> TOTAL 2,187,491 1,862,384 2,267,222 2,677,483 18%
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<br />
<br />Enterprise Fund expenses vary greatly year-to-year, due to those funds utilizing a full accrual accounting
<br />method. Expenses within those funds include depreciation and debt payments, as well as capital expenses,
<br />which create the largest fluctuation in those budgets year-to-year.
<br />Fund # Fund Name 2022 Actual 2023 Actual 2024 Budget 2025 Requested Change
<br />601 Water 2,155,099 6,736,603 7,451,932 4,293,550 -42%
<br />602 Sewer 1,057,512 2,867,698 2,721,910 2,654,920 -2%
<br />603 Stormwater 951,183 1,052,213 1,314,003 1,606,795 22%
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<br />
<br />Capital Levies
<br />
<br />Since moving to a 10-year CIP in 2023, staff has continued to build out the inventory of existing assets and
<br />timing of maintenance and replacement. Our CIP planning software was upgraded this year, and staff has
<br />spent time cleaning up that database and implementing more intuitive numbering systems and custom fields.
<br />This continued build-out and review have already begun to inform our long-term capital funding needs. A
<br />draft of the 2025-2034 Capital Projects list is attached for review.
<br />
<br />In an effort to more clearly differentiate between capital-type expenses and operations expenses, Finance
<br />is recommending the implementation of separate levies with those taxes being deposited directly into
<br />specific Capital Funds. This revision increases transparency in long-term planning and simplifies a number
<br />of accounting and reporting processes. It does, however, create a large year-over-year difference in some
<br />General Fund Budgets; most dramatically, the Streets Budget, by removing the Vehicle Transfer and the
<br />Street Maintenance Transfer.
<br />
<br />In addition to changing a number of existing transfers into direct levies – Vehicle Fund Transfers from 4
<br />departments and Street Maintenance Transfer from the Street Dept. – we offer for discussion three
<br />additional capital levies to begin to address future capital needs.
<br />1. Infrastructure Reserve – This fund would be used specifically for street reconstruction projects,
<br />such as those listed in projects PW-100 and greater in the draft CIP. It would cover only the street
<br />portion; and each utility fund should support their respective infrastructure. As discussed at the
<br />July workshop, funding projects partially with cash will decrease our debt levels significantly in
<br />the future, thereby decreasing interest expense and making city finances more resilient to market
<br />changes such as interest rate hikes or development slow-down.
<br />2. City Center CIP – This fund will be utilized for large maintenance and equipment replacement at
<br />the new City Center. Staff is in the process of developing a CIP, that will provide an average annual
<br />cost over the life of building, systems, and contents. We expect that average to be higher than the
<br />amount planned for this first year of that fund.
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