Lake Forest Park finance director reports April dashboard shows several funds on watch; facilities costs rising

Finance Director Anne Vaughn told the Lake Forest Park City Council Budget & Finance Committee on evening that the city’s April budget monitoring dashboard shows multiple funds that warrant attention, particularly facilities and a small program called CrimeWatch.

Vaughn said the city’s biennial budget pacing is at 16.7% through April and cautioned committee members that “there is quite a bit more yellow, which is not alarming because most of it is one‑time costs that are annual, but they're frontloaded.” She said insurance payments that come due in January make early dashboards look less favorable.

The nut graf: the dashboard identifies timing issues (annual bills paid early in the year), reclassified invoices, and emerging facilities maintenance costs that will be proposed in the next budget amendment. Those developments, Vaughn said, do not yet represent formal policy changes but are items staff will track and return to the committee.

On operating items, Vaughn said CrimeWatch is “exceeding its budget currently.” She attributed temporary overages in dispatch to invoice timing from Norcom and said two quarters had recently been paid, explaining the spike. Vaughn also identified misposted invoices: “there were two invoices for AWC that were charged under [executive] that were incorrect, and they really are going to be reallocated to the memberships line item.” She said staff will recode those charges and that the reallocation will bring that line back on target.

Facilities is the area flagged for the closest monitoring. Vaughn told the committee, “Facilities, in April is starting to show that we are going over,” and said she will bring proposed increases in a forthcoming budget amendment because of aging‑building repairs and some one‑off events that required unplanned work.

Police spending tracked near pacing expectations but reflected the January insurance timing: Vaughn said police were at about 17% year‑to‑date and that insurance timing explains most of the variance. Staff also noted salary‑savings from a small number of unfilled positions that partially offset other pressures.

On revenues, Vaughn said property tax flows explain higher percentages in April for the general fund and surface water fund. She described capital improvement fund revenue sources as primarily real estate excise tax (REET) and King County levy allocations. The transportation capital fund, she said, is largely grant‑driven and currently at about 3% for the year, pending the roundabout project and other grant timing.

Vaughn reviewed capital activity: she said public works has approval to coordinate asphalt overlays with King County and noted an accounting coding correction so the Beach Drive lift station will appear under a project‑specific code in the amended reports. She also said a contractor held the invoice for police locker rooms and that expenditure will appear in May reporting.

Committee members asked for follow‑up detail on the street fund shortfall (right‑of‑way permits, motor vehicle excise tax, franchise fees and construction permit timing), and Vaughn said staff would provide a deeper breakdown. She also agreed to track traffic‑camera receipts and interest attribution at a more granular level.

The meeting produced no formal budget votes. Vaughn said staff will bring a preliminary budget amendment to the committee in the coming weeks to address facilities and other identified coding and timing issues.

Less critical details: Vaughn asked whether members wanted a presentation on proposed overlay streets and agreed to provide the list and the public‑safety walk improvements planned for the 201st/197th (Horizon View area) overlay when those details are finalized.