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Council approves $5 million in fund transfers, including $2.75M for engineering on Highway 411 relocation project
Summary
Gadsden City Council approved transferring $5 million from the unassigned fund balance to the general fund, including $2,746,775 to begin engineering and site work for the US Highway 411 relocation project under an 80/20 federal match.
The Gadsden City Council approved two related actions moving city reserves into capital and operating accounts to begin planned projects.
Councilman Wilson presented a transfer of $2,746,775 from the unassigned fund balance to the general fund to cover engineering and site work for the relocation of U.S. Highway 411 (referred to locally as Rainbow Drive) from I‑759 to U.S. Highway 431. Wilson said the funding represents the city’s 20% match on a federal appropriation administered through ALDOT (an 80/20 federal-local match). Council suspended the rules to consider the item as new business and then voted to adopt the resolution to transfer the funds.
A related finance department request moved a total of $5,000,000 from the unassigned fund balance into three accounts: the $2,746,775 for the Highway 411 engineering described above; $2,000,000 to pay for phase 5 of development at Gadsden Sports Park (a new “signature” baseball field alongside existing fields); and $253,225 for another community use item mentioned by the presenter. Council members discussed the city’s unassigned fund balance and reserve policy: the presenter said the city targets roughly three months of operating reserves (about $18.0–$18.5 million) and currently had approximately $39,000,000 in unassigned funds. After encumbrances and the $5,000,000 transfer, the presenter said the estimated unassigned balance would be roughly $25,632,883—above the stated reserve target.
Council voted to suspend rules to consider the finance transfer as new business and then adopted the transfer. The presenter and the mayor described the transfers as moving money from savings into operating/capital work and said the city planned further capital projects, architectural work on a West Meighan (West Megan) complex and possible bonds in the future. No bond issuance was approved at the meeting; council action authorized transfers to begin engineering and park construction work.
