Englewood budget advisory committee advances reserve-policy guidance, schedules Sept. 18 follow-up

The Englewood City Budget Advisory Committee discussed draft guidance to clarify the city—und reserves—ramework and set a follow-up meeting for Sept. 18 to finalize recommendations for City Council.

Laura Cooper, a Budget Advisory Committee member, presented a draft policy guidance that seeks to define eligible uses for reserves, identify trigger metrics for "ratcheting down" and "sliding up," and establish documentation and replenishment strategies. "I put together some policy guidance and recommendations . . . as a starting point for our discussion," Cooper said, noting the draft draws on external resources such as the Government Finance Officers Association and Pew research.

The committee discussed maintaining a target reserve equal to two months of unrestricted general fund expenditures (16.7 percent), a current policy minimum of 12 percent and the need to clarify whether the reserve calculation base should be operating expenditures rather than operating revenues. Kevin Ingalls, Director of Finance, said the…