Georgetown staff reviews city donation practices and Friends groups’ contributions

Lori Brewer, Assistant City Manager, briefed the council on the city’s donation accounting, partnerships with nonprofit “Friends” groups and proposed follow‑up steps after recent public donations following a July 5 flood.

Brewer said the city worked with Friends of Parks and Recreation to accept and administer donations for flood cleanup and park repairs because that group can provide tax receipts and administrative support. Friends of Parks collected about $27,000 for the flood event and announced they would match donations up to $50,000, which Brewer said brought the total to about $54,000. Brewer said the city will likely request those funds in the next fiscal year to cover bridge repairs.

Brewer reviewed existing departmental donation practices: the library and parks departments maintain policies for accepting gifts that align with departmental missions; police and fire have no regular donation policies and handle donations on an occasional basis. The city tracks donations through special revenue funds and provided a multi‑year summary of library, parks and public safety donation accounts. She said a specific donation from the estate of a donor designated for Gary Park has been routed through a special revenue fund and that the city has been drawing down funds as projects proceed.

Brewer noted the council adopted a fiscal and budgetary policy in July that requires council notification and explicit council approval before expending donations that exceed $100,000. Councilmembers discussed whether the $100,000 threshold should be lowered. Councilmember Arcand (Mr. Arcand) said he would prefer lowering the threshold to $50,000 and asked that lists of proposed Friends‑funded items be submitted earlier in the budget cycle so council can consider them when setting capital priorities. Several councilmembers agreed that Friends groups should continue receiving recognition (plaques, logos on installations) and that staff should coordinate timing so donation requests align with the budget and CIP planning.

Brewer said departmental MOUs with Friends groups (typically five‑year terms) exist for both the library and parks and that staff will update those MOUs and provide council with the Friends’ wish lists earlier in the budget cycle. She and staff said donations that arrive as checks from Friends groups are tracked in the city’s special revenue accounts when they are tendered to the city. Brewer and staff also confirmed membership fees paid directly to the Friends organizations remain with the Friends groups and are not accounted in the city’s donation funds unless the Friends remit funds to the city for a specific project.

Councilmembers asked staff to bring Friends‑requested funding lists earlier in the annual budget process and discussed the proposed change to the council notification threshold. No formal vote on a policy change was recorded at the workshop; staff said they will return with any proposed policy amendments and updated MOUs.