Staff outlines general fund changes, interfund transfers and program enhancement process

City finance staff presented details of the city—s general budget, interfund transfers and the process used to rank program enhancement requests.

Staff said general expense and interfund transfers are being adjusted to centralize costs such as property/liability insurance, telephone and internet, and to reflect operational items that are not department-specific. The personnel budget line was noted at $4,100,000 in the proposal, driven primarily by set-asides for cost-of-living adjustments, merit increases and a forthcoming market compensation study. Operations and interfund transfers include a planned $500,000 transfer to the street aid and transportation fund, a proposed $1,461,000 transfer to the transit fund (an increase tied to exhaustion of CARES/ARPA grants), a $3,467,000 transfer for fleet replacement (to be adjusted as purchases and existing fund balance are reviewed), and a proposed $3,500,000 transfer to the capital projects fund (including $1.6 million for approved CIP projects and $1.9 million for the Liberty Hill stream restoration project).

Staff also summarized the program-enhancement ranking exercise conducted with the committee. Committee members each submitted top-15 priority lists; staff calculated frequency and average rank and presented a weighted top list. The committee—s most frequently selected item was adding three shift firefighters; other high-ranked items included a downtown parking study, a vehicle barrier system, and adding a materials handler in sanitation and environmental services. Top-ranked requests totaled roughly $4.25 million; the top 14 were just under $4.0 million.

Officials warned the committee that several large capital or policy matters will affect budget capacity this year. Staff noted the potential for two Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) partnership projects (Mack Hatcher Southeast expansion and a northwest segment) that, if funded, would require significant city matching or partnership commitments. Staff said the city was one of 14 partnership projects statewide selected for consideration in TDOT—s 10-year plan and that legislative and budget timing could affect whether action is required before the committee finalizes priorities.

Staff outlined the next steps: staff will incorporate committee feedback into the city administrator—s recommended budget to be released in early May, hold one-on-one sessions with committee members, then present the recommended budget at the committee meeting on May 15. First reading of the budget will follow at the last May meeting, with public hearing and final reading scheduled for June.