Office of the City Manager
Reference: Third Amendment to the 2024 Budget
To: Mayor Gregory Mills and Members of City Council
Through: Michael P. Martinez, City Manager
Prepared By: Kathryn Mortensen, Budget and Performance Manager
Date Prepared: September 16, 2024
PURPOSE:
To amend the 2024 Budget to support grant awards, repayment of the Cemetery Fund loan, and adjustments to ongoing projects, including Trash Bash, community identity signs, Police Department training and blood draw services, and increased credit card fees.
STRATEGIC FOCUS AREA:
Financially Responsible
BACKGROUND:
The City Council adopted the 2024 Budget on October 17, 2023, at $265,434,894. The First Amendment to the 2024 Budget adjusted this amount to $266,382,461 to accommodate additional police officers and a grant to the Greater Brighton Chamber of Commerce.
In March, as per the 2024 Budget Resolution, capital carryover was administratively adjusted to reflect final year end amounts, reducing the budget to $258,626,442.
The Second Amendment to the 2024 Budget adjusted the total budget to $307,843,125 to address administrative tracking changes, changes to lodging tax allocations, new grant awards received, increased fleet maintenance costs, and timeline changes to several approved capital projects.
The Third Amendment to the 2024 Budget addresses several new grant awards we have received this year. This includes a new round of funding from the Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Agency to hire staff at the Police Department to run the program, as well as funding for tow fee reimbursements and the purchase of steering wheel locks. Additionally, the Police Department has received a SMART grant to fund two additional officers as well an increase to their annual mental health grant. Additional awards include the Brownfield Assessment grant to evaluate environmental needs at several downtown properties, and the Structural Assessment of the Historic Senior Center building.
This amendment also covers the repayment of the loan the Cemetery Fund took out from the Cemetery Perpetual Care Fund in 2015 for the construction of cremation gardens at Elmwood and Fairview Cemeteries. The loan was originally taken out for $150,000. With interest, the current balance is $174,173. The Cemetery Perpetual Care Fund is intended to have the interest transferred annually to cover ongoing Cemetery maintenance, but this transfer has not been occurring since the loan was taken out so the fund could rebuild its fund balance which was depleted from the loan transfer. The total amount of interest that has accrued during this time period is $204,215. This amendment appropriates the transfer of the totality of this interest to the Cemetery Fund, as well as a transfer from the Cemetery Fund back to the Cemetery Perpetual Care Fund of the total balance remaining on the loan. Moving forward, this allow us to return to transferring accrued interest annually to be used on ongoing maintenance costs each year.
Lastly, this amendment adds appropriation to cover adjustments to several ongoing programs. The first is our community identity signage which requires $15k in additional appropriation for engineering design to be completed that will allow us to move forward with installation of the signs at a future date. Additionally, our Spring Trash Bash event had an additional day added earlier this year due to poor weather during the planned dates of the event, requiring additional appropriation to cover our Fall event. Our Police Department also saw an increase in training costs this year for new hires to attend the Police Academy. While we budget for a certain amount of these costs to occur each year, this year has seen a higher than average need for entry level hires who require this training. Additionally, our Police Department previously had blood draw services provided free of charge, but the increased cost of running these tests means these services now require payment beginning in 2024, requiring additional appropriation. The last program this amendment adds additional appropriation for is credit card fees. Our Recreation Center recently implemented new software that allows for easier payment via credit card. This has led to an increase in these forms of payment, which in turn increases our expenses for these fees. Residents making the credit card payments do pay the fee as a portion of the total costs, and so these expenses have accompanying revenues.
This amendment will appropriate an additional $1,079,172 bringing overall appropriations to $308,922,297.
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 Third Amendment to the 2024 Budget Resolution.
OPTIONS FOR COUNCIL CONSIDERATION
Approve, amend, or deny the proposed resolution.
ATTACHMENTS
Proposed Resolution
Presentation