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Council questions large contingency line, seeks project detail for planned expenditures
Summary
Council members pressed staff for line-item detail behind a roughly $232,000 remaining contingency and larger contingency practices, asking that planned projects be listed with estimated costs rather than held in a general 'slush' fund.
Council members criticized recurring large contingency amounts in the city budget and asked staff to provide project-level detail for items funded from contingency.
Finance staff reported a fiscal-year 2025 contingency budget of $245,000 with $17,446.68 expended to date, leaving $232,083 remaining. Councilors said contingency should not be used as a catch-all and asked that projects be listed with estimated costs during the budget process, as state rules and good practice require.
Council members noted contingency expenditures this year included an unexpected delinquent tax bill of $13,120.05 and upgrades to the fourth-floor audiovisual system used for virtual meetings. Members asked that non-routine items and capital projects be planned and listed in the budget rather than funded out of contingency midyear.
Staff said they would provide clearer documentation of contingency uses and argued the contingency account addresses unanticipated expenditures; council members reiterated their preference for greater upfront specificity in budgeting.
