Finance committee backs $75,000 transfer to update public-works construction specs

The Annapolis Finance Standing Committee voted April 1 to give a favorable recommendation on a $75,000 fund transfer intended to update the city's standard construction specifications for engineers and contractors.

Alderman Huttley said the transfer was the meeting's only voting item and asked staff for details. Diane Doyan, water sewer program manager for the Department of Public Works, told the panel the request had arrived on short notice. "This was just handed to me yesterday," Doyan said, adding that the city's "specs and details were last updated in 1988." She said the city has waited for Anne Arundel County to finish its update so Annapolis could "pattern off of what they've done." Doyan described the requested funding as $25,000 from each of the water, sewer and stormwater enterprise funds, for a total of $75,000.

Finance staff explained the transfer entries appear doubled on the form because of how debits and credits flow between enterprise funds, the general fund and the capital-improvement program budget. "It's an up, up, up across, down, down, down," said Mister Palakkal, explaining the accounting movements and saying the intent is to arrive at the $75,000 Doyan described.

Alderman O'Neil moved to give a favorable recommendation and Alderman Thorpe seconded. The committee recorded unanimous support; the committee chair said the motion carries.

Doyan said the amount was "a relatively small amount" compared with typical project budgets and that she did not expect the transfer to cause major impacts on planned work. The committee asked staff to provide more detail about which specific line-item projects would be delayed when the project manager returns from maternity leave.

Next steps: staff will proceed with the transfer paperwork and follow up with the committee on any line-item impacts once the project manager returns this month.