Council members received an updated fiscal picture showing an unexpected $244 million of revenue above the mayor’s budget assumptions, but the city’s chief financial officer told the body that money should not be treated as available for new, recurring programs.

The CFO warned the apparent one‑time surplus must be weighed against large recent contingency draws and rising spending pressures across agencies. Committee members described a decade‑long pattern of contingency draws, settlements and year‑end “close” pressures that have tightened the city’s ability to repay withdrawals and to top up reserves.

Council members and staff cited a running set of contingency draws this year covering a range of departments — police overtime, human services, settlements and agency cash withdrawals — and said the running total (including prior-year carry‑forwards) is substantially larger than the one‑time surplus. Committee members reported agency quarterly reports (FRPs) projecting roughly $403 million of potential overspending this year; agency actions and the supplemental budget have reduced that to an unresolved projection of about $184 million.

Members proposed a set of oversight steps before any one‑time allocations: agency‑level hearings on persistent overspending, a financial performance review across the enterprise, and statutory changes to make contingency draws more transparent and easier for the Council to examine. Several members asked the Council Auditor and the CFO to provide a line‑item account of contingency draws going back multiple years so the Council can see which draws are recurring and which were truly one‑time.

Council members also asked staff to coordinate with the mayor’s budget team to identify which portions of the surplus could be prudently used for one‑time needs (capital, reserves, reimbursable items) and which should be left unallocated to preserve a year‑end close cushion.

Why it matters: The Council relies on the CFO’s certification of available resources before enacting spending. Using one‑time surplus dollars to add recurring programs raises long‑term budget risk, and several members said the Council should only commit after agency overspending and reserve shortfalls are fully quantified and addressed.

Ending: The Council asked the CFO and budget staff to circulate detailed contingency draw history and to schedule a round of oversight hearings on overspending and agency controls in the coming weeks.