Willows finance committee seeks single general fund reserve, orders apparatus fund and Measure I reporting

WILLOWS CITY — At its July 15, 2025 Finance and Measure I Oversight Committee meeting, members reviewed the city’s financial policies and Measure I receipts and directed staff to return in October with a streamlined general fund reserve policy, regular treasury and investment reports, and a created apparatus replacement fund funded with an immediate $5,000 transfer from the capital reserve.

The discussion focused on four policies adopted in 2020–21 when the city prepared pension obligation bonds and certificates of participation. Bernie Brown, presenting the item for city staff, said the policies were written in part to satisfy bond underwriters and that Willows’ current reserves are “relatively small,” arguing the city should consolidate separate reserve subcategories into a single general fund reserve for now.

Brown said the city’s capital reserve currently shows a $5,000 balance, and he recommended moving that money into an asset-replacement or apparatus fund. “I would like to remove all of these different subcategories and just have a general fund reserve for now,” Brown said. He told the committee staff will prepare reconciled bank statements and a treasury report in advance of the auditors’ work so the committee can review investments and cash flow details.

Vice Mayor Thomas and Council member Busby pressed for clearer targets and accountability. Busby said earmarking an asset-replacement reserve provides council-side accountability because “we know that there's going to be recurring replacements that are gonna be happening over the next 1 to 5 years.” Thomas asked whether the council had previously committed to a hard payback schedule and suggested the committee recommend a multi-year target to the full council. Brown recommended the committee review and adopt a target for the next fiscal year and return a recommendation to the full council by October.

On Measure I revenues, staff reported two early payments totaling about $142,000 (one for $141,201 and one for $932). Staff cautioned that sales-tax cleanup payments are submitted after quarter-end filings (returns due July 31) and said additional receipts should appear in subsequent months. Joanne (city staff) said staff will prepare a summary showing Measure I receipts between finance committee meetings as a standard item going forward.

Brown said he will prepare an expenditures presentation that “backs into” what Measure I is sustaining — i.e., the personnel and baseline services that would have been reduced or eliminated had the tax not passed. He told the committee the city faces what staff previously estimated as a roughly $1.4 million structural deficit absent Measure I and that his October materials will use real salary and expense figures to show how Measure I funds maintain current staffing and operations.

Committee members and staff also discussed aging public-works and fire apparatus (street sweeper, jet truck, fire engine). Brown and other members agreed staff should analyze financing and lease-purchase options and include apparatus needs in next year’s budget planning. Committee direction included creating a distinct ledger line (apparatus replacement fund) and transferring the $5,000 capital reserve balance into that fund; staff indicated they will make that ledger change and show the fund in October materials.

Procedural items: the committee approved its meeting minutes for April/May 2025 (motion by Council member Busby; seconded by Vice Mayor Thomas; motion approved). The committee did not take a formal vote on the reserve-policy language during this meeting; instead staff were directed to prepare a revised policy combining reserve subcategories into a single general fund reserve, include the apparatus replacement fund and the $5,000 transfer, and return that recommended policy to the committee for an October action and subsequent presentation to the full council.

What happens next: staff will reconcile bank statements in time for the auditors’ mid-October work, produce a treasury report and an investments summary, create the apparatus replacement ledger and move $5,000 from the capital reserve into it, and prepare a Measure I expenditures narrative that quantifies what baseline services and positions the tax is preserving. The committee asked staff to place the revised reserve policy and the treasury/investment reports on the October finance committee agenda for recommendation to the full council.

Votes at a glance - Approval of minutes (April/May 2025): motion carried (mover: Council member Busby; second: Vice Mayor Thomas). Vote tally not specified by name beyond recorded affirmative responses; outcome: approved.

(Quotes and attributions are taken verbatim from the meeting transcript.)