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Janesville reallocates underspent public works funds, creates $675,000 contingency for 2024 closeout
Summary
The Common Council on March 24, 2025, adopted a supplemental general fund appropriation resolution that reallocates underspent public works funds to cover overspends in other departments, funds tornado response shortfalls, and creates a $675,000 contingency account to increase the city's expenditure restraint limit.
On March 24, 2025, the Janesville Common Council unanimously adopted file resolution 2025-2326 to reallocate 2024 underspent public works funds and create a $675,000 contingency account.
Finance Director Dave Godek told the council the measure accomplishes three primary tasks: move underspent funds from Public Works to cover overspending in general government, public safety and neighborhood and community services; reappropriate some Public Works savings into special revenue accounts (including to close out the tornado response fund); and create a $675,000 contingency account governed by council policy.
Godek said the total reallocation equals $1,444,566; $675,000 of that is a contingency balance that, under council policy 58, requires a two-thirds council vote to spend. He said the transfer into special revenue accounts should bring the city’s fund balance back into compliance with council policy 89 and reduce future borrowing needs.
Godek described specific items the reallocation addresses: the tornado response fund had expenditures above the state emergency management grant received and is overspent by about $193,000; staff proposed transferring $300,000 to an IT strategic plan fund and $100,000 to the building maintenance fund. He also said the city earned $4,403,235 in interest on cash invested in 2024 and that Public Works came in under budget by roughly $780,000 largely because snow removal operations were lower than anticipated.
On departmental overspending, Godek attributed the public safety overrun of about $156,681 to overtime in the fire department. When asked to explain overtime, Godek said, “The fire department has minimum staffing levels ... when those individuals are unavailable and staffing drops below those minimum levels the fire department's required to bring additional staff in taking them over time to perform those duties.” He added that the department had higher-than-anticipated family medical leave absences this year.
Council members moved and seconded the resolution and approved it unanimously. Administration said none of the actions create additional new spending beyond reallocating existing 2024 dollars and establishing the contingency to increase the 2025 expenditure restraint limit by roughly $28,350.
The council directed staff to implement the transfers as described and return if any future spending from the new contingency account is proposed.
