Depoe Bay budget officer outlines timetable, CIP and restricted-fund concerns ahead of June adoption

Depoe Bay Budget Officer (staff member) told the Budget Committee on an orientation session that the city must adopt a budget by June 30 or it will be unable to spend money, warning, "If we don't pass the budget by June, or the city shuts down." The session reviewed the committee schedule, capital improvement planning and how restricted funds and grants are shown in the city's draft documents.

The orientation matters because the committee will recommend a proposed, balanced budget that the City Council must adopt before fiscal year-end; the officer flagged major near-term capital needs, explained procurement thresholds and said the city will present its first Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for review in mid-April. The budget officer said the water treatment plant is currently estimated at about $4,500,000 and that the CIP will show how capital funds are expected to be spent over the next five to 10 years.

The presentation laid out key dates and roles. The budget officer said a joint budget committee and urban renewal meeting is scheduled for April 17, with community-support organization presentations at that meeting; the officer plans to provide a draft budget to committee members in advance and asked members to submit questions three days before the April 17 meeting. The City Council will hold a public hearing and vote; the officer noted the council may make changes of up to 10% to amounts the committee approves but reminded members that, unlike federal practice, Oregon local budgets do not have a continuing-resolution mechanism.

Committee member Bill (budget committee member) urged clarity in the draft to show which revenue sources and restricted funds pay for which projects. He said transient lodging (tourist) tax revenues and water/sewer user fees are separate "buckets" that must be applied according to existing rules and ordinances. Bill recommended that individual projects that will require significant purchases be called out in the budget so staff can use those pre-approved amounts up to procurement thresholds without returning to the council for each line-item expense.

Several committee members asked how the budget displays grants and restricted revenues. The budget officer said some grants, such as a previous ODOT Bay Street improvement grant shown as roughly $248,000 in the accounting, are tracked internally but are not always visible on the top-level budget pages. The officer said she will add clearer notes and program codes in the software and include explanatory lines in the budget message so that grant inflows and related capital-outlay lines can be matched in the published documents.

The committee also discussed the city's transient lodging tax (TOT) allocations, including the practice of reserving portions for tourism promotion and public-safety purposes. The budget officer said a portion of TOT is typically split (she used a 70/30 split as an example) and that some amounts designated for public safety have accumulated in the account; she said transfers and the allocation of that money need to be clarified this year.

On reserves and multi-year projects, the officer said unspent appropriations become a beginning fund balance or reserve and that multi-year projects will be appropriated year by year so unspent amounts roll forward only as fund balance rather than as a guaranteed ongoing appropriation. She noted some large projects will require multi-year engineering and funding decisions and that the CIP will be a five- to 10-year plan showing priorities, not a guarantee that each listed item will be completed next year.

The officer asked committee members to avoid serial communications outside meetings and to request information through staff in advance. She said public-notice requirements are scheduled to begin the next Friday and encouraged the public to use Everbridge signups, utility-bill mailers and the city website for meeting notices, while acknowledging that staffing limits restrict how many channels the city can maintain.

The committee did not take formal votes at the meeting. Staff said it will prepare: (1) a draft budget and budget message for distribution in advance of April 17; (2) the CIP draft to be shown the committee and council in April; and (3) supplemental budget documentation to capture any newly awarded grants that were not contemplated in the 2024-25 budget. The officer also committed to clearer labeling of restricted grants and to provide a detailed transfers spreadsheet showing how payroll and administrative costs are allocated across enterprise and general funds.

The city will schedule presentations from community-support organizations on April 17; committee deliberations and public comment will follow at the committee's May 15 meeting and the council hearing is scheduled for early June. The Budget Committee will next meet on April 17 to review the proposed budget and hear community-support presentations, and the budget officer asked members to send questions in writing at least three days before that meeting.