Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tree Fund Inventory topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City: Webster Groves tree fund contains $97,000 but much is escrow; tree inventories need updates
Summary
City staff provided numbers on recent plantings and the tree fund balance, and said the street-tree inventory in TreeKeeper is out of date; updating inventories would cost well in excess of $50,000, staff said.
Commission members received an update summarizing tree-planting activity, the status of the city’s tree fund and the condition of the municipal tree inventory.
According to information relayed to the commission by Emily (summarizing answers from Scott Davis of Public Works), new public plantings recorded in the last three years were 25 trees in 2024 and 40 trees each in 2023 and 2022. The commission was told the city’s tree fund currently shows about $97,000, but that number includes funds held as liabilities or escrow tied to developer/homeowner guarantees; those sums are not all immediately spendable for new plantings.
On inventories, staff said the city’s TreeKeeper street-tree inventory (established in 2019) has not been kept up to date and that staff is obtaining quotes to update the 2019 street-tree inventory, the 2013 business-district inventory and to establish full park inventories. Public Works estimated the work to gather and update inventories would cost well in excess of $50,000.
Why it matters: Accurate inventories and properly accounted funds are prerequisites for targeted planting, maintenance planning and external grant applications. Commissioners discussed exploring cost-share grant options (Missouri Department of Conservation and other partners) that could support inventory updates and maintenance work.
Follow-up and next steps Commissioners asked staff to clarify when tree-fund accounts will be separated (liability escrow versus spendable planting funds). Staff said finance and the deputy city manager are working to separate escrow/liability amounts from spendable balances but did not provide a timeline. Commission members also discussed grant partnerships that could help fund inventories and maintenance.
