During a budget workshop, Finance Director Fred reviewed Hollywood Park’s special revenue funds in detail, explaining what each fund can be used for, the projected revenue for the coming year and how reserves are allocated across funds.

Court-related funds: Fred told council the Court Technology Fund (Fund 110) is expected to receive roughly $9,000 in fines and $2,000 in interest and can cover court-related technology and some police telephone costs tied to court activity. A separate Court Security Fund projects about $20,000 in revenues and holds roughly $40,000 in reserves for court-security capital needs.

Grants and donations: Fund 130 holds grants and donations for police and fire; staff projected about $75,000 in police grants (body cameras, ballistic plates and related equipment) and $15,000 in fire grants for training and seminars. Fred noted these grant funds appear as both revenue and capital outlay when grants are restricted to specific purchases.

Asset forfeiture and seizures: The city budgets modest amounts for state-level forfeiture funds (Chapter 59) and federal seizures. Fred said state forfeitures are irregular — one year the city received $3,827, another year none — so he recommended budgeting a small placeholder (he suggested $0 to $5,000) to avoid frequent amendments. Staff and the chief discussed how seizure proceeds have historically funded vehicles and equipment, but they emphasized revenue is volatile, which undercuts a reliable replacement schedule.

Venue and hotel taxes: Fred described the venue-tax fund that pays a bond payment for the Voigt Center; the fund projects roughly $400,000 in sales-tax revenue and currently has about $1.5 million in reserves. He explained that the hotel-tax fund (3% of lodging receipts) is restricted to visitor-related uses such as advertising and venue improvements. Council discussed whether to use hotel-tax reserves for the Voigt Center’s kitchen and HVAC needs (see separate article). Fred noted that because the venue-tax fund earns interest at a higher rate than the bond interest, paying the bond off early would require careful analysis.

Sewer and streets: The sewer enterprise fund handles commercial properties served by SAWS and is budgeted to approximately break even while accumulating reserves for later repairs. Street fund revenues were described as the principal local source for pavement maintenance; Fred said the fund currently has several hundred thousand dollars in reserves and the council had previously earmarked roughly $2.3 million for major street repairs. Council members asked staff to provide a road-condition design and schedule so the earmarked reserves could be put to work on the worst segments first.

Presentation and audit issues: Council raised questions about timing and public availability of annual financial statements (the latest posted was 2023; 2024 was not posted), and residents urged the city to publish audited financials earlier to support informed comment on budgets and reserves.

Fred said the special revenue funds generally do not affect the general fund’s operating budget, but when special funds cannot cover designated costs they can create pressure on the general fund. He recommended keeping conservative placeholders for unpredictable revenues (forfeitures) and using fund-specific reserves for designated expenses to avoid budget amendments.