The Common Council of the City of Decatur voted unanimously to reallocate municipal funding on motions to shore up an $18,000 police-pension shortfall and cover other approved projects.

Finance staff told the council that an overage and timing of invoices had left the city with a negative ARPA balance and a projected shortage in the police-pension account. Council members approved three related motions: to pay a previously approved dump-truck equipment invoice from the rainy-day fund instead of ARPA, to spend $18,611.26 of ARPA funds on the final two police-pension payrolls of the year, and to apply remaining ARPA funds to pay invoices for a wastewater treatment building upgrade (with the wastewater fund to cover roughly $999 in remaining costs).

The finance presentation said the city’s ARPA account showed a roughly $31,000 shortfall after earlier approvals and unanticipated invoices. The staff analysis proposed moving the $49,000 dump-truck equipment payment to rainy-day funds to free up ARPA dollars to cover the pension payments and the wastewater invoices.

Council members discussed alternatives — including transfers from the general fund, delaying projects or removing items from the ARPA list — before agreeing to the three-step approach. One council member summarized the plan as using rainy-day funds for the truck equipment, ARPA funds for the police pension shortfall, and the remaining ARPA balance for the wastewater building project.

All three motions were seconded and passed with an affirmative voice vote; members indicated unanimous consent.

The council also directed staff to continue monitoring ARPA and rainy-day balances and to report back if further adjustments become necessary.

Ending: The funding moves are intended only to balance this year’s payments and invoices; council members said future shortfalls would be handled through next year’s budget process or additional appropriations.