Council reviews budget amendment to accept Secret Service software reimbursement for police

A city council item presented Monday would amend the budget to accept reimbursement from the U.S. Secret Service for software previously purchased by the police department and allow the department to reallocate the refunded money in its operating budget.

City staff said the police department "purchased software" using part of its normal operating budget and that this year the Secret Service reimbursed the city for that purchase. The proposed resolution would accept the reimbursement and let the police spend the returned funds on other operating needs.

"This is a budget amendment to accept a reimbursement from the Secret Service for some software the police already bought," a staff presenter said. Another staff member added, "They use part of their normal operating budget to buy the software, got reimbursed, and now would like to use their normal budget to spend on other things." The presenters said the reimbursement occurs some years but not every year.

The council took questions but the transcript does not show a formal vote on the amendment during this session. No dollar amount for the reimbursement was given in the discussion recorded in the transcript.

The item remains listed as a budget amendment to accept federal reimbursement; staff said they would include the request in the fiscal-year budgeting process as needed.

Council members and staff indicated no objections in the discussion recorded for the item; the transcript does not record a formal adoption during the meeting.