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Davenport City debates rolling over unspent fair-housing and general-fund salary dollars
Summary
Director Lacey asked the city to roll over unspent FY25 funding tied to fair-housing administration and a small general-fund salary balance to FY26 to allow the civil rights office to address backlog created by hiring delays. Finance staff said $31,000 of HUD administrative salary funds had already been rolled over; council members expressed
Director Lacey and finance staff discussed a request to roll over unspent fair-housing and general-fund salary monies from FY25 into FY26 so the civil rights office can catch up on work delayed by hiring and other constraints.
Finance staff explained the city's general practice: salary savings are not usually rolled from one fiscal year to the next. The CFO (Vashia) said it has been the city's practice "not to roll over salary savings from 1 year to the next. We see that as 1 time money at that moment in time," while noting that unspent HUD/fair housing funding that has been received historically has been rolled forward when unspent. Vashia summarized that the city had processed a budget amendment and that roughly $31,000 in HUD-funded administrative salary money had been rolled into the salaries line and is available for the civil rights office to use; the transcript records a remaining balance reported in Munis as about $75,383.24 in the fair-housing fund and $9,019.40 in the general fund (total approximately $84,402.64), though staff and commissioners discussed estimates and accounting treatment at length.
Director Lacey said positions approved by council were not filled for reasons raised in the meeting (including hiring delays and a pending union issue), which left work undone and prompted the request for a one-time rollover so temporary help (interns or part-time staff) can be hired to catch up. "If council approves us having five staff members and we're paying salaries for five positions that council has approved, that's not overspending the budget," Lacey said, arguing that the appearance of overspending stems from how grant funding and salary lines are presented in the budget documents.
Finance staff explained GAAP accounting and "unearned revenue" treatment for funds received but not yet spent; they also cautioned about precedent: rolling over general-fund salary dollars could set an expectation for other departments. Commissioners suggested preparing a short business case or memo explaining the unique, one-time nature of the request for council to consider during a budget amendment or in the December/April cycles. No formal council action occurred at the meeting; staff indicated the commission could submit documentation for council review and that budget amendment timing would determine whether a resolution or amendment is required.
