Commission staff briefs members on budget, nonreverting fund and contract status

City staff told the commission that the commission’s ordinary 2025 budget remains at $100,000 and that the commission’s nonreverting fund balance is $246,081.20. Staff said that, unusually this year, leftover funds from the 2024 budget were not transferred into the nonreverting fund and that the commission will press the administration to roll those amounts forward earlier in the fiscal year to preserve reserves for preservation incentives.

Staff explained that facade grants and other preservation incentives are typically paid from the nonreverting fund and that projects awarded late in the year sometimes begin the following spring. If funds do not roll over into the nonreverting account, staff said they may need to draw on reserves that were banked in earlier years to pay 2024-approved grants that have not yet been invoiced and reimbursed.

Staff also said a contract for services that the commission approved in December was resubmitted to the administration for a new signed contract under the city’s new mayoral administration. Staff received a draft contract back in January and reported outstanding issues that staff will discuss with the administration before signing; the contract is not yet executed but staff said it expects the commission to continue to receive administrative support.

Why it matters: the nonreverting fund is the commission’s primary reserve for preservation incentives; an administrative decision not to roll over 2024 leftover budget amounts into that fund reduces immediate flexibility to mount preservation responses or to fund previously awarded but not yet invoiced projects.