Office of the City Manager
Reference: Fourth Amendment to the 2023 Budget
To: Mayor Gregory Mills and Members of City Council
Through: Michael P. Martinez, City Manager
Prepared By: Kayla Barber-Perrotta, Budget and Performance Manager
Date Prepared: November 6, 2023
PURPOSE:
To amend the 2023 Budget for additional water usage at the Oasis Water Park, to provide an associated appropriation for the recently awarded State’s Mission for Assistance in Recruiting and Training (SMART) Grant, to fund an engineering assessment of the City’s tornado sirens, to support early purchase of deicer, and to fund higher than normal medical claims for 2024.
STRATEGIC FOCUS AREA:
Financially Resilience
Organization Excellence
BACKGROUND:
The City Council adopted the 2023 Budget on December 6, 2022, at $254,765,841. On February 21, 2023, Council adopted the First Amendment to the 2023 Budget addresses appropriation for grant awards, inter-fund transfers of revenues to support the Broncos money spending plan, as well as a true-up of re-appropriation for the Municipal Service Center. The recommended Second Amendment to the 2023 Budget appropriated additional funds for six SROs and associated equipment in the Brighton Police Department, funds for a physical spaces design plan, additional Lodging Tax grant awards, a new cemetery maintenance worker, and an additional recreation specialist. The Third Amendment to the 2023 Budget funded a new Assistant Human Resources Director, CATPA grant award, and cemetery mowers. The amended budget total is currently $318,449,677.
The Fourth Amendment to the 2023 Budget recommends an additional $41,200 to support uniforms and gear for new officers. This is the match portion to the recently awarded SMART Grant for the Brighton Police Department. The General Fund will increase by $5,000 and the Capital Fund by $36,200. This only covers portions expected to be spent in 2023 with additional allocation to be addressed in the First Amendment to the 2024 Budget. This will be covered by unappropriated fund balance.
An additional $84,000 is recommended in the General Fund to offset increased water usage at the Oasis Water Park for the 2023 season. Cracking in the pool at Oasis resulted in leaking throughout the summer and required that the pools be refilled regularly. Now that the season has ended that total extra water usage amounts to $84,000 which was not anticipated under normal usage. Repair work is currently underway at the site with resurfacing expected to be completed in the spring of 2024. Staff is also recommending an additional $200,000 in the General Fund for early purchase of deicer material. Due to higher snowfall in the early part of the year, the Public Works Staff has already used a large amount of deicing material in 2023. While they initially planned to wait for restock in 2024, the prediction that this will be a heavier-than-normal snow season has resulted in a new recommendation that material be purchased in 2023 before the heavy snow months. Both the deicing materials and water usage at Oasis are covered by unappropriated fund balance.
Staff is also recommending an additional $16,000 in the General Fund for an engineering study of the City’s tornado sirens. Earlier this year one of the sirens stopped functioning. In working with the City’s service provider and vendors it was found that the current system is too outdated to repair as is. This study would allow the City and the Brighton Fire Rescue District to understand what options exist for upgrades and/or replacement and the costs associated with each. It is expected that the results of this study will be addressed in 2024. This additional appropriation will be covered through an even split between unappropriated fund balance in the General Fund and reimbursement from the Brighton Fire Rescue District.
The Fourth Amendment to the 2023 Budget includes an increase of $800,000 to the Benefits Internal Service Fund. This fund supports all costs associated with medical coverage for the City of Brighton. While this fund normally sees about $400,000 per month in claims, across August and September the City saw $1,200,000 in claims. In discussions with our coverage brokers, it was determined that there will be a few additional large claims between now and the end of the year that are awaiting processing. The additional $800,000 recommended is based on projection discussions and data from the City’s broker for 2023. Currently, there is no recommendation for adjustment to the 2024 Budget as these higher claims are not tied to ongoing illness and/or treatments.
Finally, the Fourth Amendment to the 2023 Budget includes an increase of $500,000 in the Capital Improvement Fund for the replacement of the Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) that supports the City’s network and servers by regulating the amount of power provided to these items and ensuring continuity during power outages. This function is critical to providing services. During a regular replacement of the City’s servers, the City’s UPS units went down and due to age require replacement rather than repair. Due to the projects budgeted in the Capital Improvement Fund, there is not available fund balance to support this emergency need at this time. As such, staff is recommending a $500,000 transfer from the General Fund to the Capital Improvement Fund to support the purchase. This will be covered by unappropriated fund balance in that fund.
This amendment will appropriate an additional $2,141,200 bringing overall appropriations to $320,590,877.
CRITERIA BY WHICH COUNCIL MUST CONSIDER THE ITEM:
All changes to Fund-level appropriations of the adopted budget must be made by a Supplemental Budget Appropriation.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff is recommending approval of the attached Fourth Amendment to the 2023 Budget Resolution.
OPTIONS FOR COUNCIL CONSIDERATION
Approve, amend, or deny the proposed resolution.
ATTACHMENTS
Proposed Resolution
Presentation