Council to correct $34,000 buoy purchase after budget language omission

Council members flagged a $34,000 buoy purchase for the city lake that had been approved in an agenda bill but, the council was told, lacked language in the advertised budget identifying ending fund balance as the source.

City budget staff (Sherry) told the council that the budget had been advertised and approved without language authorizing use of ending fund balance, so staff did not have authority to spend from that source. “There was nothing in there that authorized me to put that backwards into my budget,” Sherry said, explaining why the purchase could not proceed until the budget language is corrected.

Councilmembers said the purchase should have moved forward and asked how the council and staff can avoid similar omissions in the future for time-sensitive purchases. One council member said the $34,000 figure was in the original agenda bill and expressed surprise it had not been included explicitly in the advertised budget.

The police chief who addressed the council said items already have been ordered and staff were fast-tracking a fix: “Things already been ordered now I just need the money to pay for,” the chief said. Staff and council agreed to bring corrected language back to council next week to authorize the funding from ending fund balance.

No formal motion or vote on the budget fix took place during the meeting; council members directed staff to return with corrected ordinance language and funding language. The consent agenda passed earlier in the meeting; this budget correction will be brought as a separate item.

Clarifying details: the expenditure amount discussed for buoys was identified in the meeting transcript as $34,000. City staff said the correct procedural step is to include ending fund balance language in the advertised budget so staff have authority to charge the cost.